<p>After weeks of patiently waiting, i finally was able to see my package online. it was terrible. usc is giving me federal loans for 5500 and expect me to pay 50k...</p>
<p>is there someway of appeal/negotiations? usc was my first choice but i guess im not going there any more... :/</p>
<p>Daughter was admitted to Mount St Marys Los Angeles, luckily MSMC give some sort of scholarship ours was $12000, but our federal funding is only about $5000 with other things we stillhave to come ypwith $18000 a year to cover her</p>
<p>yea same with me! they only gave me loans and said i wasnt eligible…i could pay less for UCLA as an OOS then USC…this is insane…</p>
<p>How about you guys get over it and realize that college isn’t free. If it really is that much more beneficial to go OOS or another in state college, please do. Whiners are not appreciated. Please note there are so many people who would die for an acceptance let alone satisfactory financial aid. When you take things in life for granted, the things that get granted get taken.</p>
<p>Uh, what’s the point of an acceptance if you can’t get good enough FA to even go? I don’t think they’re taking anything for granted here. If I asked to pay 50k I’d be ****ed too.</p>
<p>Getting in doesn’t mean going. Maybe they were asked to pay 50k because they could afford it with sacrifices here and there. USC isn’t dumb. They wouldn’t calculate aid like that if they knew you couldn’t afford it. This is America. College tuition is one of the most heavy burdens on families money wise other than house/car payments. If they’re so upset, they should go contact the financial aid office instead of complaining on here. Not only is it rude and hurtful to those who didn’t get in, but it’s the word choice of “terrible”, “insane”, that really strike a cord. What’s the point of putting your anger on cc? It’s so unclassy.</p>
<p>I’m not taking anything for granted… that was a rude post. I thought that I would be able to afford USC but for some reason I am not eligible for aid even with <90k income a year. So please don’t be rude when you don’t know the situation. Its not whining, its being confused and wanting to go somewhere bad. I was trying to sympathize with the OP they aren’t the only one in a similar situation…</p>
<p>If you want to go so bad, go apply for outside scholarships. Take actions, not post on here for the whole world wide web to see your anger. Go look at all the other posts, you can appeal financial aid - its been said over a million times.</p>
<p>hey texas, u needa chill. i was just sharing my info so others can also have an idea. i didnt mean to be rude or anything. and if ur not okay with reading about all this, i suggest you not post in this thread. and if i’ve angered anyone, i’m really sorry, didnt mean to.</p>
<p>tenorforlife, thanks so much. really makes me feel a little better :]</p>
<p>Lol complaining about your FA is not in any way rude/hurtful to people who were rejected, are you kidding me?!?! I kind of understand your “college tuition is always a heavy burden to families” point but trying to say that people who were rejected are going to look at this thread and be like “OH, THIS PERSON IS COMPLAINING ABOUT FA!! WELL I DIDN’T EVEN GET IN! HOW UNGRATEFUL! I’M OFFENDED!!” is soooo BS bro.</p>
<p>Well I can tell that people posting about getting less financial aid than they hoped for are upset, but I personally never read the posts as angry or feeling entitled. Getting in to USC is a dream come true for many . . . and facing the reality that for financial reasons one may end up attending a different school can be painful and is probably a huge let down . . .</p>
<p>I have gotten a great deal of information and support from these boards and hope that we can continue with the positive and helpful tone.<g></g></p>
<p>While we were actually pleasantly surprised that USC gave us $20,000 in grants and $5,500 in loans and $2,500 in Work-Study for the first year…unfortunately it still doesnt look feasible for us. It would mean our daughter graduating with $27,000 or more in loans before she even pays for grad school. And, we would still be paying over $27,000 a year out of pocket. While we might be able to swing that, I’m not so sure our daughter wants to be in debt right after graduating. And, looking ahead, LA is *not *inexpensive. I know she’s interested in a sorority. I can just visualize dollar signs popping up everywhere down there! And that’s above and beyond the basic cost of attending. 
It’s scary to lock ourselves into such a huge commitment.</p>
<p>The good news is that she has a perfectly good option: Cal Poly SLO. We can pay for the whole thing with absolutely no loans. In fact, if she wants, she can apply to USC for the Occupational Therapy Master’s program if she still feels she would like to be a Trojan. But, that’s down the line. Our priority is to get her through undergrad school with the least amount of debt possible and still have a fulfilling college experience. </p>
<p>So, she’s mulling it over. She wrote a long pros and cons list and they both look very close with Cal Poly coming out a wee bit ahead. Neither one is her “dream school”. Naturally, there are going to be good and bad about both. But, if wanting “rah-rah football-school spirit” is one of the pros for USC, I’m not so sure it’s worth coming out of it in debt. Yes, there’s also diversity and a beautiful campus and lots to do in the city. Again, is it something she absolutely needs to have a successful college experience? </p>
<p>It’s hard to pass up $20,000 “free money” especially when others aren’t quite as fortunate here. But, it’s all relative. </p>
<p>She has a couple more weeks to decide. Myself, as the practical mom, I hope she gives it a lot of thought and understands the commitment of paying off loans for several years.</p>
<p>**lifeistough<a href=“excellent%20screen%20name%20for%20this%20particular%20thread,%20btw”>/B</a>, I completely understand the disappointment when it turns out you cannot attend a school you really want to attend. The realities of college admission vs rejection and financial aid vs cost are the reasons all of you kids applied to several schools.</p>
<p>The thing about financial aid I try and try (and try) to get across is that it isn’t random - it is predictable if you do your research. If all of you could rattle off financial aid regulations and procedures they way you rattle off average admit percentages and SAT statistics, these painful surprises wouldn’t happen.</p>
<p>For students considering what schools to apply to, “how will we pay” is a very important consideration. So many go with the attitude of “I’ll just get admitted and then worry about how to pay” or “I hear they have good financial aid” and they don’t realize that - though there IS aid - they may not qualify for the aid. Check page one of the Fin Aid FAQ thread for info on packages.</p>
<p>For USC, you take your FAFSA EFC and then add about 5.6% of all assets you reported on the CSS/Profile (including home equity!) and that is an approximation of your expected contribution. Any potential applicants for next year can figure that out right now and avoid this disappointment.</p>
<p>lifeistough, yes, you can appeal. The worst they can do is say “no.” Present any special circumstances - medical expenses, job loss, etc… Tell them you want to go to USC and ask if they can reconsider your aid. They may make a small adjustment, but it probably won’t be as much as you would like. Good luck.</p>
<p>thanks a lot alamemom! that was really helpful. ill definitely try to appeal.</p>
<p>“For USC, you take your FAFSA EFC and then add about 5.6% of all assets you reported on the CSS/Profile (including home equity!) and that is an approximation of your expected contribution.”</p>
<p>Thats interesting because I just received my financial aid package today and was shocked to see how bad it was. My fafsa efc is 33000. The USC efc was 460000. I truly doubt my parents assets total 232,142 which would account for the extra 13000 that USC thinks my family can contribute</p>
<p>rebel2k10: alamemom is correct. Remember assets include: home equity, savings (including savings accounts, mutual funds, CDs, etc). Look at the CSS/Profile your parents filled out. Check the home equity in particular. Home equity is the estimated market value of the home minus the mortgage. Depending on where you live and the value of the house, it is not inconceivable that the home equity could be the major source of the difference. That is what happened to us.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if they consider where someone lives in regards to home equity and cost of living. I realize that money is money, but if someone lives on the coast of California it’s natural that their home will be worth a lot more and it costs more to live there vs somewhere like Indiana or Kansas. The would the dollar amount of equity would be a lot higher. I realize that salaries might be lower in some of those areas, but not necessarily. Just curious! :)</p>
<p>yeah i just realized that now msheft, but I still find it somewhat ridiculous that they expect my parents to pay pretty much half of their income. It’s just frustrating because usc was my top choice but o well</p>
<p>ya same ^ i feel ya</p>
<p>With the housing market and housing prices declining a lot, see if you can prove to them that your house is not worth as much as you entered on the CSS/Profile; therefore your equity would be a lot lower.</p>