Hey everyone, I’m having trouble with financial aid. USC is pretty much my dream school, but I’m panicking about having to pay for it. They’ve asked me for about 20 forms over the course of the last four months, but I still don’t have my package. Is this bad? I called the school a week ago and they told me it should be in by the end of last week, but when I check FAST, it says it’s not even in review yet.
I’ll be visiting USC next week- would it be worth going to the FAO and talking to them about my aid? Columbia is offering me $56,000 to go there- could I show them this and ask them to match it?
I would definitely pay them a visit if there’s been no progress. I find USC Financial Aid to work quite fast. Although, when I took summer classes, they did lag quite a bit. Overall though, when I would turn in a form online, it would update the next business day and I’d see any changes reflected within 2-3 business days. There might be something wrong, so checking in would be a good thing. However, I’m not sure if it would be a good idea to talk about another school’s gift aid. I doubt they will be sympathetic and if anything, they might just tell you to attend Columbia instead if their package is better. Did you check USC’s financial aid calculator? That should give you a solid estimate of the aid you should be expecting if you have no idea yet.