<p>Say that I am a low income student with a single mother making around $18000 a year and received a half-tuition scholarship, which would leave me about 100k left to pay. What other financial assistance is available to me to cover the remainder costs? I know there's Pell Grants (although I don't know what it does). Does USC offer non-scholarship money based on need?</p>
<p>I think you meant 10K per year right? Did you fill out a FAFSA? and the CSS profile? How do you know you’re only receiving half tuition? Usually the best Financial aid comes from the college and since FAFSA just open on January 1 and is not due until March 2nd, how did they acknowledge half tuition with that low an income?</p>
<p>I’m just assuming that I received a Presidential or NMF scholarship.</p>
<p>Hi Tommy,</p>
<p>It looks like you are a current sophomore in high school - it is good that you are looking into this well in advance of submitting applications. Yes, USC offers need-based aid as well as merit scholarships and need-based aid can be coordinated with scholarships to meet USC-determined need. PLEASE note that USC uses the CSS/Profile, which considers assests the FAFSA does not including home equity, to calculate USC-determined need and so the amount you are expected to contribute may differ from your FAFSA EFC (and by “differ,” I mean it will probably be more).</p>
<p>USC need-based financial aid packages contain Stafford loans ($5,500 freshman year, $6,500 soph, $7,500 each Jr and Sr) and work-study. In addition there is a summer earnings expectation for students. More information on applying for need-based financial aid here: <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates1/newstudents.html”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates1/newstudents.html</a></p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>Tommy, keep in mind that merit scholarships are kinda hard to obtain…However, if you’re income is low enough, they’re not really necessary. :)</p>
<p>If you obtained a merit scholarship, USC would meet the rest of your need with financial aid. If you don’t receive a scholarship, they’d meet your entire need with financial aid.</p>
<p>So why scholarships, if they don’t make a difference?</p>
<p>Well, for people whose income is high enough, a scholarship often is bigger than the financial aid they receive. & for lower income students -if your income were to suddenly increase, your aid would decrease, but your scholarship (since you’ve earned it) remains.</p>
<p>The bad part about USC?
They’re not as well endowed as other “meet 100% of need” universities, and thus are forced to include some loans in the financial aid package as part of meeting your need. However, they’re commited to giving you mostly grants.</p>
<p>You should try their Net Price Calculator. My income is much higher, and I still get full tuition with financial aid, scholarship or not. Sooo you’d definitely get a much sweeter deal. ;)</p>
<p>By the way, if you’ve done well academically, I think you’d be a great candidate for the Questbridge program. :)</p>
<p>Thanks @Lilliana330 for the clarification! That alleviated my concern! Also, you can check on my previous “Right Track” thread to see my current stats. Any suggestions to further improve it would be awesome!</p>
<p>Thanks to @alamemom for your consistence in helping students like me. I have seen you quite a lot in the USC forums and am looking forward to receiving further assistance from you. Thanks, once again.</p>
<p>@TommyD36 Glad to have helped. :P</p>
<p>Your stats are definitely good for Questbridge. You should apply for their College Prep Scholarship your junior year & for the National Match as a senior. 
I’ll post some more advice on that other thread!</p>
<p>Lilliana330, USC does not use loans in their FA packages to my knowledge. Where did you get that information? In fact, the only loans in the package will be the Fed student loans alamemom listed above. If, for example, a student’s family had a $0 EFC, and the COA is estimated at around $63,000, the student’s package would include Federal sub and unsub student loans totaling $5500 freshman year, and possibly work study of up to $2500 (not in all packages) and the rest (in this extreme example–$55,000) would be made up of grants (Pell, institutional, and/or merit $$ will combine to get this figure). As you said, for the student who qualifies for this much grant need-based aid, the merit awards are just subtracted from the need-based aid–and the net funding comes out the same. </p>
<p>@madbean Those are the very loans I was talking about. I should’ve been more clear, sorry.</p>
<p>@TommyD36 Make note of this!</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification Lilliana330. Since 2001, when Princeton declared they would be a no-loan school, several other universities have joined that commitment and dropped the student loan portion of their FA for certain low-income qualified students, but not USC. My luck, USC will join that group just when my second Trojan graduates. </p>
<p>When will your second Trojan graduate? @madbean</p>
<p>Also can you elaborate on the loans? I’m unfamiliar with the EFCs or the X amount freshmen year, etc.</p>
<p>Tommy, Stafford loan amounts included in USC need-based packages are as follows:</p>
<p>Freshman year: $5,500 ($3,500 subs, $2,000 unsubs)
Sophomore year: $6,500 ($4,500 subs, $2,000 unsubs)
Junior year: $7,500 ($5,500 subs, $2,000 unsubs)
Senior year: $7,500 ($5,500 subs, $2,000 unsubs)</p>
<p>The subsidized portion of the loan will not accrue interest until 6 months after you graduate OR stop attending more than half-time. The unsubsidized portion begins to accrue interest upon distribution.</p>
<p>“EFC” is a term specific to the FAFSA, and your FAFSA EFC will not apply at USC except for Federal aid including Stafford loans, Federal work/study and Pell grants. For USC grants, USC will use the CSS/Profile, which considers assets the FAFSA does not including home equity, to determine your need and calculate your package. The amount your are expected to contribute at USC will therefore differ from your FAFSA EFC (and by differ, I mean it will likely be more ). You and your family will have to come up with the difference between your USC-determined need and the cost of attendance. he first page of the FAQ for USC Financial aid at the top of the forum for details on estimating your expected contribution at USC.</p>