<p>In my college search process I have found a school that I really love. It seems as if every aspect of the school is perfect. The only problem that I have with this school (The University of Southern California) is that it is halfway across the country (I live in Chicago). I am worried about not being able to afford plane tickets and such due to the large amount of money that they will cost and I would for sure have to get a job out there in order to pay for living expenses (which I most likely will have to do for any college that I go to). My question is: is it worth applying to this school? Should the travel expense (and other miscellaneous expenses) prevent me from applying to one of my dream schools? Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>How do you expect to pay for the school? </p>
<p>Sure, the total expenses of a university are a critical part of the decision making.</p>
<p>Are you a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who will qualify for financial aid and whose family can pay what you think the school will estimate? If so, applying makes sense; you can see how much $ the school gives you and see if it’s affordable. Does your family have significant savings or are you eligible for merit money?</p>
<p>Are the plane tickets really the tipping point? USC is quite expensive at list price. It does have financial aid and scholarships – you may want to see if they would be sufficient to bring the net price down to an affordable level for you.</p>
<p>It depends because although it is expensive many schools I know offer scholarship and financial aid. This amount will vary from school to school. I would say to apply and then once you apply then decide if you will be able to afford the school based on the scholarship packages offered.</p>
<p>yes I am low income which is why financial aid is very important but all this information about financial aid is overwhelming and I don’t understand much of it. I got a 28 on the ACT and I don’t plan to retake it because I don’t do very well on tests and that is the highest score I’ve ever gotte</p>
<p>Unless you have some kind of hook, I doubt USC will accept you with an ACT 28. USC has been rejecting A students with ACT 31s in the last 2 app cycles. </p>
<p>An ACT 28 is in the lower quartile for USC. That’s where the athletes and other special admits are. </p>
<p>I see that you want to be pre-med. I would strongly advise attending ANY school that you’re not in the upper quartile in. It’s unlikely that you’d end up with the needed GPA for med school.</p>
<p>Yes, I am aware that USC is a reach school for me but I just thought I would apply there and have it be one of my few reach schools. Also, I’ve read in several places that USC meets 100 percent of need. Tuition is not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about other expenses that I would encounter in everyday life</p>
<p>100% of demonstrated need is not the same as 100% of what you actually them to give you, and yes, you should be worried about other expenses you would encounter in every day life. Unless you’re going to be getting huge merit scholarships, if money is a problem, you can’t really go to college halfway across the country at a school with a 50k cost of attendance.</p>
<p>I see that you want to be pre-med. I would strongly advise attending ANY school that you’re not in the upper quartile in. It’s unlikely that you’d end up with the needed GPA for med school.</p>
<p>That should say…strongly advise against attending…</p>
<p>While USC can be one of your reaches, you need to figure out how many apps you can afford to send out. You also have the cost of sending scores AND sending CSS Profile for each school. It can easily cost $100 to apply to each school on your list.</p>
<p>Frankly, you should start at the bottom up. First determine your financial safety schools. These are schools that you know FOR SURE that you can afford to attend because you know FOR SURE that you have ALL costs covered. </p>
<p>Then, once you have those determined, then figure out your other schools…again, figuring out how much it will cost to send scores, CSS Profile and apps to your schools. </p>
<p>Do you know if you qualify for app waivers? if you do, there is a limit to the number of waivers you can get. I think you can get 4 app waivers IF you qualify for them.</p>
<p>That’s one problem that I’m having I don’t know how to determine whether I will be fully covered at a school or not (financially). Also, yes I’m 95% certain that I qualify for fee waivers. I already know that my dad will be able to pay for all the other fees. I am only low income because of my mom’s salary. Since I live in her household and she has sole custody I only use her income. (My dad only pays child support and gives me money if I ask for it).</p>
<p>Many schools’ financial aid offices ask for non-custodial parent financial information and assume some contribution from the non-custodial parent. If the assumed contribution is more than what the non-custodial parent is actually able and willing to contribute, then you need to look for merit scholarships or very low list price schools.</p>
<p>Ask your parents what the child support agreement says about paying for your college expenses. It may be that your father no longer is required to pay anything at all when you turn 18 - or he may be obligated to pay for college - or anything in between. This is part of the financial discussion you should be having with your parents before you start formulating a list of schools. Note ucbalumnus’ point as well - even if your father has no further legal obligation, schools may insist on including his income and ability to contribute in their calculation of your financial need, whether or not he is actually willing to contribute anything. He needs to know this - because if he’s assuming, as you did, that only a custodial parent’s income is relevant, he may want to rethink his financial plans.</p>
<p>Does your dad know what USC costs?</p>
<p>The fact that USC may meet 100% of need applies to kids whose dads can’t “pay for all the other fees.”
USC does not require the CSS Non-Custodial Parent* form* but reserves the right to ask for Dad’s tax info. More than Mom’s salary will be considered- eg, alimony, assets, etc. </p>
<p>You have got to read the colleges’ own web pages for the info you need. That’s what most of us do. Run the colleges’ NPC aid projectors.</p>
<p>Read finaid.org for a good explanation of finaid. Plenty of kids think this is all about loving a school from a brief look, think it’s just a matter of plane fares or gettng some job- and are later stunned by reality. Get empowered.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how much my dad will contribute. My parents are currently working that out in court</p>
<p>I have began looking at npcs and most say I would end up having to take out about 10 thoasand dollars a year in loans</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Your loan pkg will already have loans in it. Are you saying that you’ll need to borrow $10k more?</p>
<p>YOU can only borrow $5500. You’ll need a qualified cosigner to borrow more.</p>
<p>That said, a premed should borrow very little for undergrad since med school will require big debt.</p>
<p>*That’s one problem that I’m having I don’t know how to determine whether I will be fully covered at a school or not (financially). Also, yes I’m 95% certain that I qualify for fee waivers. I already know that my dad will be able to pay for all the other fees. I am only low income because of my mom’s salary. Since I live in her household and she has sole custody I only use her income. (My dad only pays child support and gives me money if I ask for it).
*</p>
<p>Are you an Illinois resident? Well, use some NPCs on some IL state school websites and see what aid you’d get. Also look at their scholarship pages to see if your stats would get merit scholarships.</p>
<p>An IL public that you can commute to may also be affordable. You need to be careful since you could end up with some acceptances, but no affordable schools.</p>
<p>Oh I understand. However, I’m also confused because I have no idea how to find schools that suit me financially. All of the ones that I do find to be financially efficent seem to not be great schools. I am very greatful for all of the help. I was wondering if anyone can give me further help by telling me if my other choices are good financially. My list includes: Ohio state, Loyola University Chicago, Vanderbilt and Emory as reaches (my counselor told me these are good reaches), Depaul, Marquette, UIC, UIUC (I am an Illinois resident).</p>
<p>Oops, didn’t see that post until after I already posted my previous post. Thank you, I’ll be sure to do that.</p>
<p>Column 6 of the following list indicates schools that do or do not require PROFILE for the non-custodial parent:</p>
<p><a href=“https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv[/url]”>https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv</a></p>
<p>USC does not require non-custodial profile. However, their financial aid page does note,
You will be advised if tax information from your non-custodial parent is required. …
USC will determine an expected contribution for the custodial parent, the non-custodial parent, and the stepparent, as appropriate.</p>
<p>The full cost to attend Ohio State for an out-of-state student is over $35K. On average, they meet less than 60% of demonstrated need. That’s the average for ALL students with need. The average percentage may be lower for OOS students. In general, you probably cannot count on generous aid from OOS public universities (not at the ones where you have a realistic shot at admission, anyway).</p>
<p>Bottom line: go ahead and apply to a couple of reaches like USC. However, I agree with advice above that you should start from the “bottom up”. Focus on in-state public schools, including schools close enough to commute from home.</p>
<p>Counselors often do NOT take into account “paying” for college when they advise on lists.</p>
<p>Emory and UChicago will likely require your dad’s info, so you may not get much/any aid at those schools.</p>
<p>Frankly, with an ACT 28, I think you have too many HIGH reaches. Vandy, Emory, UChicago, and USC are not likely going to accept you. Your test scores are either in the lower quartile or very close to it for all these schools. Maybe pick 2 of these. </p>
<p>DePaul and Marquette are good schools, but they don’t meet need and you’d need a commitment from your dad that he would pay…otherwise these will NOT be affordable. </p>
<p>The app process takes a LOT of time. You’ll regret spending all that time on a bunch of schools that will not likely work out for you either acceptance-wise or financially.</p>
<p>Ask your dad how much he’ll contribute each year towards college. </p>
<p>Find 2-3 schools that will be affordable (state schools that you can commute to and state schools that will give enough aid/merit)</p>
<p>Then find 2-3 schools that will likely accept you and will possibly give you enough aid.</p>
<p>Then find 2-3 schools that are reaches (not all high reaches!). </p>
<p>Consider Truman State as well. Some southern schools might give you good merit. UAB would give you a good award…and it has a top med school.</p>