I recently got admitted as a spring transfer to USC, and after appealing and everything, my financial aid package for the semester is at $5,710. My family’s income is approximately at $33,000, and I’ve never taken out loans, so I’m a bit afraid to do that for USC (I don’t think they’ll be able to contribute anything) keeping grad school in mind. I’m even more concerned about having to most likely pay 10k my junior and senior years. However, since I live in Illinois, my only other options are UIC or Lake Forest College, both which would run me around $2,000-$3,000 a semester. So is USC worth incurring the extra cost?
Do you mean that you would need to pay $5,710 per semester, or that they would give you $5,710 per semester in aid? In either case, are loans included in your aid package?
I think that you need to be clearer regarding the details of the financial aid package.
I need to pay $5,710 per semester; and yes, they’re offering $1,250 in work-study, $1,750 in a Subsidized Stafford loan, $1,000 in an Unsubsidized Stafford loan, and $1,710 in a Perkins loan.
IMHO this is not worth it. If you borrow the $5,710 per semester, plus the loans mentioned in your post #2, even if you get the work study (which might not happen), if I did the math right (in my head) this adds up to $10,170 per semester, or more than $80,000 total debt after four years. This does not include transportation which would add a bit more to the cost. This would probably crush any hope of graduate school, and would be very hard to pay off over many years. There is even significant risk that you plus your parents would not be able to borrow this much and you would be forced to drop out part way through without graduating, but still with a lot of the debt.
You have two very good and significantly more affordable options in Illinois. I think that you should take one of them. Good luck with this!
So the total net price per semester is $5,710 (= $1,250 + $1,750 + $1,000 + $1,710) or $11,420 (= $5,710 + $1,250 + $1,750 + $1,000 + $1,710)? I.e. $5,710 is the total of the work-study and loans you listed, or in addition to the work study and loans you listed?
If the former, then it would be barely affordable; if the latter, it is unlikely to be affordable.
Sorry, I think I must have been a bit confusing! But yes, I meant that the total net price per semester would be $5,710, which would bring the cost for a whole year to around $11,420 I think. I would definitely not attend if the debt ended up being $80,000. So I think the total cost by graduation would be around $28,550? My in-state tuition at UIUC was offering similar tuition as well. I should also probably add that I submitted my application late by around a month, so I’m not sure if that impacted financial aid (they said that there was no penalty, but I’ve heard of other instances).
How much will transportation to and from USC cost? Can you work in the summer and raise $3000 for spending and books etc? Does this include housing? Why not list each of your 3 choices and the net cost per year with the breakdown on where that money will come from. Then everyone will be very clear on your options. It’s still a bit confusing.
I gather you are talking about University of South Carolina…because the aid you received would NOT cover costs at all at University of Southern CA?
But could you please clarify??
If the semester cost at USC (I’m assuming Southern Cal - please clarify) is $5710, and the semester cost at your Illinois option is $3,000, then we’re looking at an extra $5420 a year for USC over UIC or LFC. To me, USC would be worth $21,000 (over 4 years) more than UIC or LFC. However, if you don’t have it and can’t borrow it without going into too much debt, it doesn’t matter if it’s “worth” it. It’s really hard to evaluate without understanding your total packages, how much debt you’ll be in after 4 years and what your post-grad plans are.
Did you get other aid beside the loans and work study?
If this is University of Southern California…how are you paying the remaining costs that are not covered by loans and work study? University grant? Or what?
$1750 in subsidized! And $1000 in unsubsidized loans? The total for a second year student can be $6500…you only have $2750 listed. That means you should be able to get an additional almost $4000 in Direct Loans.
If your total loan debt will be $28,000 for University of Southern California, that isn’t bad…does that include all of your loans…from previous years…and potentially taking $6500 in Direct Loans as a second year, and $7500 each in junior and senior years?
Yep, it’s the University of Southern California! Given that I attended a community college my freshman year, I have no other debt as of now. Okay so I’ll list a breakdown of my financial aid packages from all three schools:
USC (for spring semester, cost of attendance is $36,487)
Pell Grant - $2,935
Federal SEOG - $500
University Grant - $27,302
Total gift aid = $30,737
Work-study - $1,250
Subsidized Stafford Loan - $1,750
Unsubsidized Stafford Loan - $1,000
Perkins Loan - $1,710
Estimated remaining cost = $40
According to my financial aid letter, transportation ($270), tuition, housing, dining, etc is covered in this breakdown.
UIC (for one semester cost of attendance is $8,303)
Pell Grant - $2,960
State of IL MAP Grant - $2,360
Subsidized Stafford Loan - $2,250
Unsubsidized Stafford Loan - $1,000
Lake Forest College (for one semester cost of attendance is $22,774)
Presidential Scholarship - $12,500
Lake Forest College Grant - $3,500
Pell Grant - $2,960
Federal SEOG - $500
State of IL MAP grant - $2,360
Work-study - up to $2,500
Subsidized Stafford Loan - $2,250
Unsubsidized Stafford Loan - $1,000
Hopefully that clears up things a little bit! I do have approximately $3,000 from working this past year, and as for my future plans, I’m unfortunately not too sure as of yet, but I’ve been considering law school.
OK, law school changes everything for me. You are most likely going to go heavily in debt for law school (which is ok as you’re likely to make significantly more money so it’s potentially a very good investment.) So a few thousand extra dollars relative to that soon-to-be massive debt, to me, makes it a non-issue. I’d choose the school you desire and not focus on the dollars at that point. I know this probably isn’t a popular position, but it’s how I personally feel about money. I did do state schools, a JD and an LLM and have been happily paying off my student loans ever since w/ plenty of extra in the bank. Good luck.
You need to look at apples to apples
I am not looking at work study because you have to find the job and work at the job in order to get the $$
your loans this semester at each school will be as follows:
Lakeforest $3500
UIC $3250
USC $4460
Right now, USC will cost you $900 more, which IMHO is a nit. If you can make it work (air fair and transportation costs to college), I would pick USC. are you working now?
Get a job, get two jobs to help reduce the amount of debt.
Thank you for posting your FULL award.
You CAN take out the additional Stafford Loan amount which I noted upstream. That would make USC comparable in net costs to the others…actually maybe less.
If you can pay the net costs…I think USC is a better choice.
I see USC included $270 for transportation costs. Just make sure you have money to get there and back from USC a few times a year.
Also, it looks like USC and UCIC are giving grant money (some scholarships have minimum GPAs you need to maintain to keep the money- I see Lake Forest has a scholarship listed so check that out).
I would narrow it down to UCIC and USC unless you really prefer Lakeforest. You have great options. Congratulations. What a great deal for USC!
Seems like you should go to USC. Total debt over 2 years seems worth it to get a degree from USC. Especially considering that some people pay almost $300K for the same degree. And you will be getting it for less than $20K.
That’s not a bad package for USC. If your aid will be similar for the full year, Take it.
@naviance brings up a good point. Do the scholarships have a goal requirement. USC package is need based aid. As long as you are making satisfactory academic progress toward a degree as long as there are not any major fluctuations in your parent income your package should be pretty consistent ( your Stafford loans will increase by $1k per year)
Are the full financial costs at your other two schools covered?
Looking at the total packages, I would choose USC.
Do you have a sibling in college?