@CaliCash never thought being upper middle class was bad until we began the college admissions process.
@RALdad @CaliCash this is saddening 
Because I know I probably cannot pay more than $30k a year and I did not get invited out to campus
RALdad, there are still smaller scholarships to be awarded. The Schools/majors send a letter with your admissions packet awarding those. They range from $2500-7000/year for 4 years. Of course, NMF means 1/2 tuition to all who are admitted. In addition, Pres and Trustee scholars also are eligible (and in past years often received) additional University scholarships to sweeten the pot even more. But with a COA like USCâs, some of these scholarships may feel like a drop in the bucket to middle class families. Actually, having 2 in college at the same time can give you a big boost for FA (but only for the years your 2 are both in collegeâso take care.) Hoping for good news for you all.
Hang in there @RALdad - We felt the same way - the middle class make too much money to be full scholarship, too little to be a full pay. The first year bill was breathtaking even with another in college. But our student wanted it and we supported the choice. Expensive - yes - but weâve felt it has been worth it. The kid did well and USC came through with a more generous package and a large scholarship the second year.
The biggest problem with the competitive scholarships is that so few get them. Ours wasnât even invited to interview. But it worked out in the end during the second year (caveat: results may vary).
@ArtsandLettersâ - I did not realize that they could get additional scholarships the second year. Did your student have to apply separately for them or were they a surprise based on grades?
Where do you look for a scholarship update? My son interviewed for the Presidential Scholarship and the only place we ever saw mention of it was under Admissions and, of course, the actual acceptance letter back in January. His admissions portal has not been updated and the Financial Aid section never reflected the PS. It looks like he may not have gotten the scholarship, but I just want to make sure weâre looking in the right place.
Students are instructed by their School/Major about the application process for Continuing Student Scholarships. You can do a search for more specific info (by School) on the web to get an idea how they are handled. Different departments/Schools have varying amounts to hand out, but many students get these. In addition, students can apply for Alumni Scholarshipsâyou donât have to be from an alum familyâthese are distributed by each USC Alumni Organization. Also, there are undergrad research fellowships administered by the Provostâs office, paid SA positions (like a TA, but for undergrads), award stipends, and more. Of course, none is guaranteed.
@SATX53â go under âview your admissions decisionâ on the portal and there should be a PDF with the scholarship decision notification letter
@bioninja Thank you for responding! My sonâs you.usc.edu portal only shows âcheck your application statusâ. Itâs kind of unusual since he has been to the scholarship interview and received the big gold package back in January.
The good news is he got an email today from World Bachelor of Business and was offered a spot and a scholarship! He is thrilled and I guess we wonât worry about the portal.
New to this thread. DS just received his acceptance packet yesterday. Heâs a National Merit Finalist but there was nothing about a NMF Presidential in his packet. Will we find out about that later when the financial aid info comes or should we have seen that today if heâs going to receive one? Thanks in advance.
On another thread it was mentioned that FA and scholarship info will come by separate letter by April 1. Acceptance letters donât have that info.
@Showingupforlifeâ Congratulations! Your S will get the NMF Presidential information in another letter very soon. It does not usually come with initial packet (or at least it didnât for anyone we know). 4 years ago, D got hers the first week of April (not by April 1). It still was in plenty of time to make final decisions. She had named USC her #1 with NM in February.
First, has your S already named USC with National Merit? You must do that first or USC doesnât have the information they need. Need to do this by May 1.
If your S has done this part, he will get a letter from USC detailing the scholarship in the next couple of weeks (maybe even next week). He will be required to sign and accept it. Every year he will need to renew it with National Merit (very easy to do).
If you have any more questions, you can pm me.
@camomof3 yes S has named USC as #1 with NMSC. Thank you for the great news! I hope we can make this work.
Have merit scholarships ever been bumped down or revoked due to second semester senior grades?
I ask mostly out of irrational fear; my grades werenât strong in previous years but 2nd semester junior year I got all As and 1st semester senior year I got all Bs, both with AP heavy courseloads. Right now I have 2 (academic) Bs and 2 Cs that are borderline Bs. Obviously I plan on pushing through and getting those back up, but I just wanted to know if anyone knew of a situation similar to mine.
I was admitted as Undecided, so a bad grade in one class wonât matter more than one in the other.
Purely anecdotal but Viterbi seems to be motivated to give top female applicants scholarships. At the Trustee explore, they emphasized how they want to be one of the only (if not only, I forget) engineering schools to have 40% women. Natâl average hovers around 20%. Out of the ~40 kids there to interview for Viterbi, the majority were female. Iâm sure they have more male applicants than female so being a woman in STEM is huge.
From my school we had two students ultimately receive the trustee. Both of us are enrolled in AP Physics C. Donât know if this means anything, but just some food for thought.
Our son is at USC SCA and attended Explore last year. From what we understand, getting accepted to Viterbi is becoming increasingly difficult, in part, to the enormous endowments that this school in particular has received. More funds = more resources, more technology, better instructors = more job opportunities. I have heard that this has been the recent trend at Viterbi that is making it more difficult to get in.
got trustee with 2400 4.0 and Ap physics C @khamasaki