USC Financial Aid

Paying for College
1

<p>Has anybody ever received a full 50k (tuition, room, board, etc.) ride from USC? I heard students have to make a minimal contribution of 4-5k freshman year for undergrads, 5-6k sophomore year, 6-7k junior year, and 7-8k their senior year. Is this true? Do these minimal contributions go towards your tuition and/or room, board, etc.?</p>

<p>If you get the Trustee Scholarship, it might not make a difference for you if your financial aid is like 40k. That's because the inside scholarships deduct from your financial aid. So if you get the Trustee Scholarship (38k, I think), you will only receive 2k in financial aid.</p>

2

<p>I’ve heard USC aid isn’t too good.</p>

3

<p>I called them, and they said they were “very generous” with the aid. They promised to meet 100% of the student’s USC-determined financial need. Idk, here’s what it says on naviance:</p>

<p>International Financial Aid
Grants offered: No
Scholarships offered: Yes
Loans offered: No</p>

<p>Financial Aid for Freshmen</p>

<p>% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 18
% Receiving Need-Based Aid: 60
% Receiving Self-Help Aid: 41
Avg. Merit-Based Amount: $10568
Avg. Need-Based Amount: $23260
Avg. Self-Help Amount: $4860</p>

<p>Financial Aid for Returning Students</p>

<p>% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 12
% Receiving Need-Based Aid: 65
% Receiving Self-Help Aid: 48
Avg. Merit-Based Amount: $11525
Avg. Need-Based Amount: $22869
Avg. Self-Help Amount: $6535</p>

4

<p>yea people have been telling me its not that generous though; naviance can be kind of faulty sometimes. UF is way more generous but it has no data for that.</p>

5

<p>A good place to discover information regarding financial aid is the USC forum. There is a very long thread with a great deal of helpful advice. Some students posted their financial aid packages.</p>

<p>General Information…</p>

<p>USC administers one of the largest financial aid programs of any private university in the United States. Admission is need blind. After Columbia, USC has the largest number of Pell Grant recipients of any other private university. </p>

<p>According to the Princeton Review for the 2009-2010 year the average financial aid package was $34,545. Financial packages are determined for each individual after submission of completed forms by the appropriate deadlines. Special circumstances are considered.</p>

<p>In addition to financial aid there are merit scholarships as well as continuing student scholarships. Lists of those can be found on the USC Forum. Some students who qualify receive merit scholarships with additional financial aid. </p>

<p>For the 2008-2009 year undergraduate funding by financial aid was $371.8 million. Included were loans, work study, federal grants, USC grants,
scholarships and state grants.</p>

<p>For more detailed information: [USC</a> Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/financialaid]USC”>USC Financial Aid)</p>

6

<p>The thing to remember with those statistics is that they in no way predict what YOU will receive in aid. Averages mean nothing - your aid will be based on the information contained in YOUR CSS/Profile, your FAFSA and your tax returns. USC guarantees to meet 100% of USC-determined need. They use the information in the CSS/Profile to determine your need - not the FAFSA - so the amount you are expected to contribute may differ from your FAFSA EFC.</p>

<p>Yes, all students are expected to contribute to their own education. Need-based packages typically include (freshman year) $3,500 subs Stafford, $2,000 unsubs and work/study of $2,000 - $2,500. In addition, all students are expected to find summer employment earning $2,000 - $3,000 and use that money toward their education. Those items together add up to $8,500 to $10,000 and are referred to as your “self-help” portion. The rest of a student’s need is generally covered by various grants: Pell, Cal Grant, etc. and the biggest source: USC Grants. The family contribution is paid in cash or parents can take PLUS loans.</p>

<p>Stafford loan limits go up sophomore year to $4,500 subs + $2,000 unsubs, and Jr and Sr years to $5,500 subs + $2,000 unsubs.</p>

<p>Yes, scholarships (merit aid) are coordinated with need-based aid. If your need is completely covered by merit scholarships you no longer have need…</p>

<p>These students posted their packages. They will give you an idea of the packages some high-need students have received:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/909468-who-else-got-amazing-fa-package.html?highlight=financial+aid[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/909468-who-else-got-amazing-fa-package.html?highlight=financial+aid&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/917781-very-very-late-financial-aid-but-wow-help.html?highlight=amazing+financial+aid[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/917781-very-very-late-financial-aid-but-wow-help.html?highlight=amazing+financial+aid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>More info on USC financial aid: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/839970-faq-usc-financial-aid-2010-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/839970-faq-usc-financial-aid-2010-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck</p>

7

<p>Thanks for all your help; I really appreciate it.</p>

8

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<p>Really?? USC guarantees to meet full need of accepted students. I’m not sure you can get a whole lot better than that when it comes to financial aid.</p>

9

<p>After some research, I found that:</p>

<p>It’s generous because it:
1. is a non-elite California university (the UC’s, for example, are terrible with financial aid, at least for OOS students); forget about Caltech and Stanford (those are colleges that promise students to live debt-free with minimal contributions from work-study:[Project</a> on Student Debt: Financial Aid Pledges](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php]Project”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php))
2. Promises to cover the full USC-determined aid
3. offers a variety of merit-scholarships</p>

<p>Not so generous when it comes to:
**1. **There must be a minimal contribution which gradually increases, even if you have an EFC of 0.
2. Most likely, you won’t get away with only the minimal contribution, unless you are in abject poverty.
3. Minimal contribution cannot be abated solely through work-study (most likely, loans will be taken in this case)
4. Merit scholarships deduct from your financial aid (easily fixed through outside scholarships, if you can get them)
5. In comparison to other colleges, USC aid is not very generous:
<a href=“MoneyWatch: Financial news, world finance and market news, your money, product recalls updated daily - CBS News”>MoneyWatch: Financial news, world finance and market news, your money, product recalls updated daily - CBS News;

<p>Overall, after this research, I’d say it’s one of the more generous colleges.</p>

10

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<p>These are true of almost all colleges, even the most generous with FA.</p>