<p>looking for advice about or shared experience about the financial aid dept at USC. We were so happy when my son got in - beautiful packet/letter - we thought there was a typo regarding financial aid...contacted the FA office to learn they were dead serious: our share of cost is $52K per year...based on their very "special" calcs. WHAT PLANET ARE THEY LIVING ON? No other school has been that bizarre - should be more like $20 - $25K.
What to do now?</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, he who has the money makes the rules, so it does not matter what YOU think your financial aid package “should be” – or even what other schools think it should be. Each private school decides how to spend their own (i.e., “institutional”) money. So in this case, all that counts is what USC thinks it should be.</p>
<p>What do to do now? If you truly believe an error has been made (either in your filling out the financial forms or in USC’s interpretation of that data), then you can appeal the decision. But if, based on its rules/calcs, USC thinks your family should pay $52K per year, then you either suck it up and pay – or have your son say “Thanks, but no thanks” to USC and choose one of his other schools.</p>
<p>Please note that USC uses the CSS/Profile to award USC grants which considers assets, such as home equity, that the FAFSA does not. Your FAFSA EFC is not used in determining USC-determined need. If you are comparing FAFSA-only schools or merit award from other schools, those are not useful comparisons. </p>
<p>It is likely you have approximately $450,000 in assets not considered by the FAFSA (such as home equity). If you call USC they will freely tell you what went into determining your contribution.</p>
<p>It is a relief to know your son has more affordable options. I am sure he will be very happy at one of those other schools.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>contacted the FA office to learn they were dead serious: our share of cost is $52K per year…based on their very “special” calcs. WHAT PLANET ARE THEY LIVING ON? No other school has been that bizarre - should be more like $20 - $25K.</p>
<p>What schools gave your a “family contribution” of $20-25k?</p>
<p>Did any of those other packages include merit scholarships?</p>
<p>What is your FAFSA EFC? </p>
<p>Do you have any other unusual circumstances…such as: self-employed? lots of home equity? anything???</p>
<p>USC (i think) was the only school that had their own fin aid docs - 2 other private schools my son applied to came up with various forms of “institutional aid” to meet our efc of around $24k (by CSS and FAFSA calcs). The shocker about USC is based on all the talk about how endowed (?) they are and will meet need. When my husband talked with the fin aid office, they brought up our retirement accounts (most of which is PERS - we have no access to, and being in the state of CA they should understand the tenous nature of public employment/retirement) and our home equity - really - who is doing those loans…and IF we could get the money - it would not amount to over $200 (isn’t the thought of using up any possible home equity an outdated idea??). I really feel like they should meet with their famous marshall school and ask a prof how much sense that makes. Can you sense the frustration? I guess we were naive to think otherwise about USC, as it is panning out as others had warned us.
BTW - this is off subject, but have either of you heard pos/neg things about U of Denver or American U? These were safety schools and they both came through with the right amount of aid. He is waitlisted at 5 other “ivyish” schools - also accepted to Berkeley and UCLA…a whole nother thought process!!!</p>
<p>USC uses the CSS Profile to award its institutional aid. Really, in the big scheme of things…for this school, your FAFSA EFC has little meaning unless your EFC is under $5000 which would give your student a portion of the Pell grant.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why your contribution to USC might be higher. If you are self employed, it is possible that they added back in some of your deductions as income. USC, I believe, does expect that home equity will be used in part to help fund college costs. I don’t know the %age they use. </p>
<p>Also that 5.6% assessment for assets is a FAFSA number. Schools that use the Profile could very well assess assets (and particularly home equity) at a higher rate.</p>
<p>You can ask USC to review your financial aid with you…to determine HOW they came up with the number they did. </p>
<p>Agreed, it is good that your son has affordable options.</p>
<p>USC uses the CSS/Profile for their USC grants and the FAFSA for federal aid - they do not have their own aid application. No, I do not think it an outdated idea for schools to expect families which have hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate equity to use some of that to pay for college so the school can reserve its aid for students who’s families have no real estate holdings at all.</p>
<p>USC is very clear that they consider home equity on their financial aid website - it seems odd that you would not expect it to be considered.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re employees of the state of Calif (PERS retirement).</p>
<p>Are you both state employees? </p>
<p>If so, I find it hard to believe that your FAFSA EFC is that low. But, either way, USC uses CSS as well. The only reason I asked what your FAFSA EFC was is that when people’s situations aren’t complicated (not self-employed, no lots of equity, no NCPs, etc), then the contributions sometimes aren’t THAT different (yours is double without any reason that is obvious at this point.)</p>
<p>Did USC ask for a NCP form? (non custodial parent)</p>
<p>Are you also contributing to a 401k? If so, did you add your annual contribution back in? </p>
<p>American U is a fine school. Did your son get merit as well from AU?</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, I don’t agree with “when people’s situations aren’t complicated (not self-employed, no lots of equity, no NCPs, etc), then the contributions sometimes aren’t THAT different.” If one school considers getting a pension and the others don’t, then that explains everything. </p>
<p>OP, yes, Profile schools <em>will</em> consider what’s in your retirement plan or will look to see if you have a pension. When I filled out my Profile, I know I was asked those questions. I don’t remember if they were on the main form or supplemental questions. I would assume that if they have the info, some schools will use it but it’s a bit difficult to know how they will. </p>
<p>I am glad your son has affordable options. American University is a very good school, particularly in the area of international relations. Berkeley, of course, has an incredible reputation overall.</p>
<p>The questions on the Profile related to balances in pension accounts used to be supplemental ones. Is that still the case? No one really is sure how the schools use this infomation. There is speculation that if there is a HUGE amount in the retirement accounts relative to income/assets, the schools might consider that…but really it’s all guessing.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, I don’t agree with “when people’s situations aren’t complicated (not self-employed, no lots of equity, no NCPs, etc), then the contributions sometimes aren’t THAT different.”</p>
<p>Typically, when we’ve seen CSS Profile “contribution” to be TWICE that of FAFSA EFC, something more complicated is going on…self-employed, NCP, lots of home equity, etc. Typically when you have an intact family with regular income as employees and modest savings/investments/equity, then we don’t usually see a contribution going from FAFSA EFC $24k to CSS Profile $52k. And, unless this family has - say - $800k in retirement (PERS), I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect them to pay out $200k for college. And, it sounds like the family has much less in PERS…like maybe a few hundred thousand.</p>
<p>How is equity calculated for CSS? Is it the amount that you would sell your home for in an emergency…minus selling costs…and minus mortgage? If so, they may not really have $200k in equity in California.</p>
<p>When we completed the Profile, we listed our home’s value, and our outstanding mortgage. The difference in the two is the equity.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, It’s just that “self-employed, NCP, lots of home equity” are much more common. PERS is one of the most generous pension systems in the country. I have no doubt that USC knows this. If this is a supplemental question, then it is something that some schools take into their calculation and others don’t-- just like NCP, home equity or adding back self-employed expenses. Obviously, USC does take it into consideration. The OP also says that $200K in home equity was taken into account. (Profile asks for home value and outstanding mortgage.) </p>
<p>Plus, the OP hasn’t posted the awards. American and UDenver give merit. I wouldn’t be surprised if they offered merit to attract a student who had the stats to get into Berkeley and UCLA.</p>
<p>OP, I also want to thank you for posting. I am sure it will be helpful to parents of future applicants who decide that USC’s methodology of taking pension into account may hurt them. Yes, the schools are entitled to their methodology but if we knew what they used, then we could avoid schools we know we can’t afford. (I realize there are people who would game the system. I’m not even talking about that. I just think it’s very frustrating to tell your kid they HAVE to apply to a ton of schools because you just don’t know how the $ will turn out.) </p>
<p>By the way, were there merit awards included in those packages?</p>
<p>“No, I do not think it an outdated idea for schools to expect families which have hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate equity to use some of that to pay for college so the school can reserve its aid for students who’s families have no real estate holdings at all.”</p>
<p>We own a home maybe worth $420K now - no other real estate “holdings”. No robber barons here! We do have retirement - for retirement. I work for a community college and my husband for a city. We subsidize our own pers with match from employer which we really cannot touch, and several small iras. My suprise (odd is it may seem) about USC comes from the lack of institutional aid, especially in light of the bragging about how much there is (we went on the tour, interview…). And I totally get they can do what they want - just disappointed they didn’t come through like the other schools that using the same #'s, came through.
USC did require copies of numerous financial docs that the others, by my recollection, did not. Correct - there is no seperate “form” - just additional process.
We are super grateful my son has other choices - although USC had a combo of things that were very well suited to him. My generally feeling is around what seems to be happening to the middle class, and higher ed for these kids. $20-$25k per year seems like it should be more than enough, and if schools the size of Berkeley and UCLA can make it happen for that - figured USC could to.</p>
<p>yes, my son did get generous merit awards at Denver, USD, and American + other institutional aid, bring our share to around $20K.
Even Berkeley gave him a grant, which was shocking. He is a 4.5 GPA, 2020 SAT, tons of leadership and community service (last summer in Panama doing community service work), bi-lingual, generally awesome human (not biased!).
With all that, he is still waitlisted at 5 schools - and now, we have no idea even if he was picked off of one, would it cost $50k per year? The application process is EXTREMELY time consuming, especially for kids who are taking lots of AP classes, etc. Apply for lots of private scholarships is often recommended (which my son did) - although I have heard that many schools will deduct that money from the amount they say they will give. If we had it to do over, would meet face to face with several FA offices and get a very clear picture of all this way ahead of time.</p>
<p>The problem with private schools using their own funds is that they can do anything they please with them. They do not have to be consistent in policy. If they want to look at one fin aid app with more generousity than another, they can and will. I am seeing schools looking at home equity, pension assets, other siblings’ assets as fair game. On the other hand, with merit within aid flexibility, if a student meets any aid definition, merit awards can be given beyond need. Basically, each school can offer whatever they please and they do so according to how much they want the student.</p>
<p>Congrats for the other options. I happen to love U Denver and think it is highly underrated. Great school. As for the waitlisted schools, can’t tell. Some schools that say they meet full need do not extend the policy to the WL. Others do, and they can be all over the map on how they determine need as you have found out.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse : Glad to hear the support of U Denver - he almost didn’t apply there, but we encouraged it because of the International Relations program. Now, it may be the likely place to go! And that is a message for parents with kids who want to go big name schools - consider smaller as well, especially if you have a kid that would be on the high end of the applicant pool. They seem willing to pay to get that kid to go there, and if you are like us - trying to retain a retirement plan - could be the right answer.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>DU and AU are both fine schools. Your child will (I hope) thank you that he went to one of them so you could care for yourselves in old age. I don’t know if I’m expressing myself very well. I hope you “get” me.</p>
<p>*$20-$25k per year seems like it should be more than enough, and if schools the size of Berkeley and UCLA can make it happen for that - figured USC could to. *</p>
<p>But, those are public schools that are receiving public funds. They aren’t really educating those students for those amounts…look at what they’re charging OOS students…the same as USC.</p>
<p>*With all that, he is still waitlisted at 5 schools - and now, we have no idea even if he was picked off of one, would it cost $50k per year? *</p>
<p>Well, some say that some schools aren’t “need blind” for their waitlists.</p>
<p>The application process is EXTREMELY time consuming, especially for kids who are taking lots of AP classes, etc.</p>
<p>Which is why it’s very sad when so many schools don’t work out. There’s a girl who applied to 17 or 19 schools (can’t remember)…and none were affordable. Yikes!</p>
<p>Your son is lucky to have some good choices with Denver and AU. Which one does he like better?</p>