Financial Aid. BEWARE. - Page 4

mdcissp · 06-24-2009, 06:39 AM

I suggest you follow up with USC with all documentation to support your case and call Berkeley as well. Perhaps you can line up a later start date at Berkeley if the numbers don't work for you at USC. It is tough to start out after graduation with massive debt in a down economy unless you are 100% certain that you can get a high paying job upon graduation with your major. Again, I am sorry you are going through this challenge.

PBK Mom · 06-24-2009, 02:33 PM

Have other returning students not had their merit scholarships posted yet? My daughter's annual Merit scholarship plus her Town & Gown Merit scholarship are missing thus far.

We were also taken aback that our EFC hasn't changed (by more than a couple hundred dollars) but the University Grant went down $5000. Our personal situation is unchanged as far as number of students, and like everyone else in CA the value of our home went down so if anything we're worth less (grin). Loans in the FA package are the same as last year and work study went up $1000.

For the last week we've been assuming the package is simply incomplete, at least in terms of her merit scholarships -- she is a straight A student so she sure couldn't have lost them -- but the University Grant going down so much has us perplexed, along with the fact Oasis still hasn't changed days later. She's going to email the FA office after work tonight but in the meantime I'm wondering if others are waiting for scholarships, etc., to be posted.

ccsbm · 06-24-2009, 03:38 PM

We were told by financial aid when we were there last week for orientation that departmental scholarships and those not awarded directly by admissions would probably not be posted until mid July. I was worried about not seeing my son's scholarship posted online in his FA package ( it was awarded in April after his initial FA was posted) .

PBK Mom · 06-24-2009, 03:45 PM

Thank you, ccsbm, I feel better hearing that scholarship info, at least about the Town & Gown. (I'm not sure who exactly is responsible for awarding her Eugenia Clair Smith Merit Scholarship.)

Now if only I understood what was going on with her University Grant. To date USC has always treated us well with financial aid, increasing her University Grant a year ago and even increasing her Smith Merit Scholarship at one point, and making the increase retroactive! So I'm hopeful that there is either a mistake with the University Grant or that money to offset that decrease will show up elsewhere in the package, rather than USC cutting back on grants (maybe because of the bad economy, which of course is affecting families too -- here in CA our taxes are shooting up so we'll have even less take-home pay...). It will be interesting to see what the FA office has to say.

Our daughter, who will be a senior, is in Phi Beta Kappa (already awarded due to the number of units she has from AP credits), certified to be considered in the Renaissance Scholarship program, etc. -- the kind of student you'd think USC would be very anxious to retain/reward.

a.parent · 06-24-2009, 03:54 PM

My S's Perkins loan dropped $500. His work study went up (but he is carrying 20 units in Fall to graduate on time because not all transfer units from his freshman year counted) so I don't imagine he can work 20 hours per week with a 20u course load of upper division classes.
His other loans remained constant. He has a Cal Grant (I read someone posted if California cancels these the university will make up the difference; I sure hope so).

I can only imagine the increase in contribution comes from my gross income, not adjusted, as I made 401K contributions for the first time ever last year. I am 60 and will be retiring at 62 1/2 (or I was, anyway) and am trying to make up for the severe drop in home equity. FAFSA does not count 401K nor home equity. Perhaps USC felt my 401K contribution was not sufficiently offset by the drop in home equity and reduced my son's grants, almost dollar for dollar??

I am traveling and cannot contact them directly until next week. I will let you know if I find out anything useful.

grey_syntactics · 06-24-2009, 04:45 PM

For those who are hoping that this USC FA blunder is just a mistake, I just spoke to someone who made me think not.

She's put two sons through USC thus far, and has a son currently attending. She came into my office to congratulate me on my acceptance, and immediately afterward commented that her son's FA was very bad this year, and that it is out of the ordinary to get such bad FA from USC. My conversation with her, along with all of these stories on here (including my own) I think should prompt some real unease at this point.

I'm just kind of disturbed by the fact that USC has not spoken out about this now-apparent issue. They've made it seem as if everything is a-OK. In fact, didn't they flaunt increasing FA by 8% this year? What's going on?

coollege · 06-24-2009, 05:11 PM

crap...this may be pushing me enough to drop USC off my list. I guess I've been looking for an excuse for a while, because it would be hard for me anyway, coming from the midwest. I heard this was just a bad myth, but now it appears to be true for some people.

Oh well, I'm a Notre Dame fan anyway.

madbean · 06-24-2009, 05:40 PM

Sorry to read so many are anxious about FA this year. Like some others posting, I'm very surprised by news of USC possibly lowering aid--they say they won't do that--barring changes in reported income, etc, so I hope things get worked out. In the past, USC has been quite honorable in upholding all FA awards, so please do keep us up to date if you get news.

My S just got an email from FA to report his 09-10 award is posted today. I am thankful that his 2 merit awards (trustee and University scholarships) are both the same as last year. Hope others get equally reassuring news.

hyakku · 06-24-2009, 07:04 PM

Well I was told that essentially nothing can really be done about my package, they said that my family said it could spend $9,000 for the year (although this was a mistake my mother says she mis understood thinking how much with loans or something stupid) and that my NCP should be giving $5k even though my mother just ended child support to be "nice" and he has since stopped helping out period.

So with my loans in the package and the one I have to take out since transferring obviously isn't an option this time its $26k or so in loans for me. I really should've done the CSS profile and FAFSA myself instead of letting my mother do it..

tocollege · 06-25-2009, 10:08 AM

My second-year aid is pretty much the same as my first year aid (in other words, very GOOD). No problem here.

Write · 06-26-2009, 10:18 PM

We received the fa package yesterday, and I came here to see if anybody else was shocked. My son will be a junior, and for the past two years he has received a fair fa package. This year there was no fa. Our income has not changed. We are a middle income family. I am hoping this is a mistake. It is drastically different. I left a message today and hope to hear something on Monday.

drizzit · 06-27-2009, 02:39 AM

I get the feeling if you move off campus you are going to see a reduction in aid since they think you can live cheaper. I know my son will reduce costs by about $2,000 by moving off campus. His house is pretty expensive, I think he could have saved more but I know LA is not a cheap city.

We saw about a 5K reduction in grant money this year. At the same time he had turned down the $1,750 work study and about 2K in unsub loans the first two years so I think they quit offering them.

grey_syntactics · 06-27-2009, 02:51 AM

wow, Write. From fair to nonexistent? Let us know how it goes...

ConanW · 06-27-2009, 03:11 AM

Just got my package...this year I only got about 7,000 in loans and no grant. Last year i got a 20,000 grant. Parent income and overall financial situation actually decreased from last year. I emailed them. Something is clearly going wrong for a lot of people.

PBK Mom · 06-27-2009, 03:23 AM

I've been on the CC USC board since my daughter was accepted in 2006...this is the first time I've seen these kinds of concerned posts about financial aid for returning students. It's very worrisome. I don't understand why the school hasn't been proactive and up front about addressing what's going on.

I'm getting a little concerned about my daughter's merit scholarship directly from the school ($5500) which still hasn't posted yet. (Apparently her Town & Gown merit scholarship should post in July.) I'm already concerned because her University Grant went down $5000 (offset only by $1000 more in work study) and of course the fees went up. Our EFC remained the same this year.

What's going on?? Either they're reacting to the economy and haven't been up front letting people know the impact, or they are posting FA packages very piecemeal for some bizarre reason.

We have always been completely happy with USC, including financial aid, but I'm starting to feel alarm bells over this. My daughter will be calling on Monday.