Paying 90k is ridiculously expensive for us. We do not qualify for financial aid and looking at how competitive receiving Merit scholarship is number of students receiving it we won’t keep our hope high for merit either. Which means we will strike out USC from our list if there is no merit. We cant justify and do not see the value in comparison to the cost of other universities whose ranking are better for a 60k
To each it’s own.
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These are some amazing outcomes for your son. My son will be applying to the same schools/majors, Haas is going to have direct admits starting next year. A friends kid at Cal (not Haas) finds their career/internships office to be ineffective. I’d hope Haas is different though.
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This may be a dumb question— we do not qualify for any FA (didn’t do FAFSA) and so I am honestly not knowledgeable on the subject. When people talk about work study as a part of their financial aid— how much is this assuming the student works x hours (I don’t know what the typical work study hours/week are). Is that considered a grant?
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Federal work study is basically a student job. They will guarantee availability it seems for a certain dollar amount per semester… like say $1250 per semester or $2500 for the year. The student then actually applies for one of the available student jobs and does the hours. Those being offered such are given preferential treatment in hiring over students looking to work who have not been offered federal work study.
So, the point is that USC and other colleges will count that as part of the total FA package being offered. But, it’s not a grant. The student does the job and gets paid.
University grants are instead just free money applied to your student account to pay down the costs of tuition, etc. For some students, the amounts in grants and loans are more than the costs for tuition and fees, etc. So, those funds can end up being applied toward room and board. If the student is no longer in university housing, it could even be a direct distribution to the student or parents as the balance left over, so that you can then pay the bills directly.
Many offered federal work study do not actually get a job. That amount of money will just have to be made up for via cash disbursements or loans from the family. But, USC will still consider it as offered and part of the overall FA offering… lowering that amount from perceived need.
Most FA packages identify the total costs (tuition, fees, room/board - based on averages, and not you specifically) and then first apply any university and federal grants, if applicable. That then leaves an amount left over via expected family contribution. And finally, as a means to pay such, they will offer some federally-backed work study and student loan options. Whatever is left over would need to come from direct payments via the family or possibly extra loans taken out by the family separately.
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My son’s friends are at UC Berkeley, UCLA, Irvine and San Diego and do not get much help either. I think the Haas name would definitely help. I have to say though that part of what you are paying for with USC is the help with internships and jobs. My son is a sophomore, and USC from day 1 of sophomore season, as they call it, offers so many workshops, resume reviews, mock interviews, career fairs, etc. to help every student be prepared and get employed. The name USC opens the door for interviews, and the Marshall and USC career services help them get offers. My son is meeting with a Marshall Career services employee who is going to review his offers and give him advice. The service they offer is truly above and beyond what you would get at a larger school, where I’ve heard you are on your own.
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My USC freshman has taken advantage of the unbelievable opportunities at USC. I can’t be really specific, but she has been able to get to know the executive director of a national organization that does the very thing she is most interested in. She applied for a summer internship at this organization but it is ultra-competitive and she didn’t have the highest of hopes. She just learned that the executive director is recommending her for one of the positions! She’s also been able to get invaluable professional advice.
She gave up a full-tuition scholarship to attend USC and we do not regret it.
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To add about my comment above re Stafford loans - if anyone is interested in their student getting the Stafford Loans (also called Direct Student Loans), you will have to fill out the FAFSA.
We are also full pay and every summer around July the thought came to mind… “Oh dang, we have to do the FAFSA again to get the Stafford added in.” So it didn’t seem to be dictated by the usual FAFSA due dates, it was just something we had to get on file and we completed it very late every year.
Also, Stafford/USC requires the student to do an online “taking a loan” course before they will disburse the loan (an hour or two I sorta remember) which is actually really helpful and valuable for them to do so they understand payback, interest, subsidized and unsubsidized. We did it with them.
Sorry she has incredible accomplishments and I hope she gets to the school she wants to be at
Even if not part of work study, we found jobs to be plentiful at USC, and these roles can lead to great internships and on to an amazing first real job post college. Definitely a boost. Mine were working in their industry before they graduated.
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Hi there — I apologize if this has already been addressed. One of the teachers who wrote a letter of recommendation on my son’s behalf told me that he got a note from USC thanking him for the letter. (I don’t know if that was an email, snail mail, autoreply or what.) Be he said that was the first time he had ever received a thank you from a university for a letter of recommendation. Does anyone know about this practice? I’ve gone through the college application process with 3 other kids – all of whom were accepted to USC – but I’ve never heard of this before. And, yes, I am still incredibly nervous about his chances, despite the success his sibling have had. His stats are just as good – better than the first two – but the acceptance rate keeps going down.
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USC offers Presidential Scholarships to National Merit Finalists. You need not be early action nor (in previous years) be part of those notified early and invited to attend Explore SC to interview for the Trustee in order to get the Presidential Scholarship. If you are accepted and a National Merit Finalist, you get it. There are also alumni association scholarships and I’m not sure about the Dean’s Scholarship. But I’m pretty sure non-early action kids are eligible for Dean.
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This year the Dean’s were allocated with early admission per the AD. They have always flip flopped on those, sometimes early, sometimes in March. It seemed if they had extra money they gave more of these in March that weren’t originally planned. Would be nice if we see more get them as a surprise in regular decision this year, but they are indicating otherwise.
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Here’s the info that was posted that came from USC:
- Merit Scholarship Process
Our merit scholarship program is a bit complicated. We considered EA applicants for merit scholarships. The deferral notification also informs students that they will not be moving forward in the competition for our Trustee, Presidential, Deans, and Leadership scholarship funding (see the exception below for National Merit).
In early February, we will release additional information about merit scholarships to EA admitted students.
- Roughly 900 students will be invited to proceed to the next phase of consideration for our top awards: the Trustee and Presidential (full- and half-tuition) scholarships. Their next step is to schedule their scholarship interview via their applicant portal. After interviews, final scholarship decisions will be released in late March.
- 200 students will be notified of the receipt of a smaller scholarship like our Deans Scholarship and Leadership Scholarship.
- All other admitted students will be notified that they are no longer being considered for the above mentioned awards. Students can still apply for other scholarships found on our Scholarships 4 page.
- Any applicant who is named a National Merit Finalist, offered admission and selects USC as their first-choice institution, will receive a USC Presidential Scholarship worth one-half tuition. This cannot be stacked with other merit scholarships awarded by the Office of Admission.
- Scholarship decisions are final and not subject to appeal.
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I understand that the National Merit Corporation began notifying universities of finalists who listed them as their first choice on March 1. I wonder if that is factored into the admission decision?
That’s certainly been debated with people asking if they should list them early rather than wait, and if it would/could impact decision. I don’t think anyone here knows for sure. My answer would be, can’t hurt - only help, so why not? And you can change before deadline (there’s some caveats to that and when things post at schools so those considering it, read up).
There also could be other schools a student applied to that may require the early notification of #1 choice for various reasons, so they have to consider the pros and cons for their situation.
I do think it could be a good question to put up to Admissions when they have their QA sessions online like they do at times. Although, I assume they would say they don’t.
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I just looked at portal yesterday, it did show mid year transcript, but not with a green mark as other documents but a kind of gray icon. I know our counselor uploaded through common app and the university downloaded it based off common app. Does everyone else see similar thing?
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In our family’s case, the mid-year transcript issue was handled a bit strangely by my daughters’ USC AOs. In both 2014 and 2017, the transcripts were uploaded to the Common Application by my daughters’ GC and then USC downloaded each. But then their assigned USC AOs (different ones each time) followed-up directly via emails (in early to mid March) to my daughters asking them to also submit copies directly back to them via email. They each complied. Ultimately, they were both admitted in late March. We of course found it a bit strange, as USC already had both. Maybe they wanted to compare formats? Or maybe they wanted to see other things that may appear within those different formats? I.E. cumulative GPA, term GPA, etc. So, they are not shy about asking for things… even when they apparently already have it.
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It does not. My understanding is that NMF First Choice lists are sent to Financial Aid, not Admissions.
Since the vast majority of NMSF become NMF, Admissions would be know if a student listed NMSF on their application.
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Thanks much for sharing! Seems like if they need it they wound reach out, so we will just wait and see then…thanks!
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You’re welcome.
Yes… exactly. We took it to mean that my daughters might have been on the bubble and that they were simply seeking some clarification or additional insight / info. By now, I suspect that USC Admissions has made a rather firm decision regarding most applicants. If they do reach out directly at any point between now and the 24th, it may indicate that same “on the bubble” scenario. If they do not, the decision… pro or con… has likely already been determined.
Good luck regarding the decision…