<p>Ale, how do you honestly expect my parents to pay that 7,500? Please tell me where I am going to find this imaginary money at.</p>
<p>No, if I had the money, I would pay it, but where in the hell am I going to come up with money like that? Excuse me, that my family is economically struggling! Moreover, my parents have a lot of debt to pay off right now. If a school claims to be 100% need they should stand by it. They should not “automatically” asses me at something that is obviously ridiculous. </p>
<p>And excuse you, no my parents have paid their taxes. I have been in better economic situation and my tax money has been going to the exact thing that is going to be funding my future education.</p>
<p>No it’s not entitlement issues. It’s frustration at the fact that I applied to only 100% need-based privates that claim to cover all cost and end up with a financial aid package like this. When by my parents tax returns, there is clearly no way they can pay this. </p>
<p>We have sent a letter as requested by USC and hopefully they will redo my financial aid package. To expect 5,000 from a non-custodial parent “automatically” whose income is 20,000 is ridiculous. Yes, I did call and they said my mom was assessed at 5,000 because she was a non-custodial parent. It was an arbitrary number that was not based on my mother’s tax returns and a supposed “formality”. I did not personally speak with USC, but my mother said she has to send a letter detailing how my father has sole financial responsibility over me as stated in divorce agrement and not to mention her tax returns show she can’t contribute it any way!</p>
<p>Don’t claim to be 100% need school if you aren’t.</p>
<p>Wowie, take out loans to pay for it. 7,000 is nothing compared to the 40,000 I couldn’t even bear to think of taking out. 40,000 is already a hefty amount to pay for only ONE year’s worth at BU, let alone 40,000 EVERY year. $160,000 is a incredibly large debt to encounter graduating college alone.</p>
<p>Economically struggling? My dad’s been unemployed for 2 years, my mom has been a homemaker for the last 18 years, and we still have my two younger siblings to take care of. My parents couldn’t pay for my 6 APs, even after getting a fee reduction for them (I had to settle for 3 and that alone was bad). I already gave up thinking of going to BU and now I am already looking at my prospects elsewhere, with money first priority over everything else, considering no way are my parents taking out a single loan to pay for my college education when they can barely support the family.</p>
<p>I have to agree, alamemom. We would give *anything *to get **free **grants in that amount of money! We would be over the MOON! I just can’t figure out how someone can be angry for having to pay UNDER $10,000 a year for school like USC! Even LESS for many folks here, it seems. Shaking my head.</p>
<p>**alamemom said:</p>
<p>You know what? This thread and the others popping up like it have sent me over the edge. </p>
<p>Wowie, I am outraged at your sense of entitlement. You have been handed $40,000 ($160,000 over four years) in FREE money by USC and you are outraged? Is it the taxpayers who fund your Pell and Stafford subsidies that you are outraged at? The USC donors who have given their OWN MONEY so that you can go to USC you are outraged at? Seriously? You feel you shouldn’t have to pay anything to attend a school that costs $55,500 per year?</p>
<p>And evita, I am outraged that you would come on here and complain that you “only” get a full Pell of $5,500 of taxpayer money when your family has hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets (protected by the simplified needs test) and is able to write a check to USC for over $100,000 per year. I am outraged that the Federal financial aid regulations allow you to get a Pell because I am a taxpayer and I am contributing to that Pell. </p>
<p>Posts like yours make even my bleeding heart start to clot.</p>
<p>I find myself hoping that your outrage leads you to choose to attend elsewhere. **</p>
<p>Meeting 100 percent need does not mean providing a 100 percent free education at a private university. Meeting 100 percent need often includes loans. How does USC “expect” you to pay? They don’t EXPECT you to do anything. It’s your choice to choose either the best USC can offer or the best another school can offer.</p>
USC does not “claim to cover all costs.” They calculate your need using the CSS/Profile - from BOTH your parents - and award aid that includes Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized loans, Federal work/study and a summer earnings expectation from the student. USC’s expected contribution is more than the FAFSA EFC for the rest of us as well.
Divorce agreements do not effect financial aid calculations. If they did, all divorce agreements for both parties would state that neither will pay for college. Then we could ALL get divorced and we would ALL get FREE college. Your need calculation has nothing to do with how much your parents are willing to pay or how they have agreed to divide expenses - they have to do with the information on your FAFSA and CSS/Profile, and the CSS/Profile asks about custodial and non-custodial parents. If you do not wish to have your non-custodial parent information considered, then you need to apply to FAFSA-only schools.
You seem to think the rest of us are dipping into our barrels of money to pay our expected contributions. (And for some, that expected contribution is $55,500) Every one of us is staring at the bill, shell-shocked. Financial aid is not meant to make college affordable - it is meant to make college *possible *- with sacrifice, penny-pinching and cutting back on everything. Most of us take a moment or two to be grateful for the aid we are given that makes it possible, rather than posting “outrage” at being handed $40,000. </p>
<p>Your options are:</p>
<p>-Take the offer from Claremont. You say it is superior to the offer from USC - why are you not jumping at it? I already know the answer - you prefer USC. USC costs more, so you have to decide if you are going to pay the higher price for the school you prefer, or accept the great offer from a perfectly acceptable school. Each school uses their own formula to calculate need, and in your case the Claremont formula favors you. </p>
<p>-Your parents can apply for PLUS loans (either of them). If they are turned down, you are eligible for another $4,000 in Stafford unsubs. That plus a summer job should cover your shortfall.</p>
<p>THAT is what the rest of us do when the school we prefer costs more than the school we can afford. We have already seen what you do.</p>
<p>my family makes less than yours and the only way i’ve managed to afford USC is by always working a job (for a period of time i was working 3 jobs at once) and i took out a few thousand in loans.</p>
<p>akman159 - Please don’t single out my thread…in no way do I feel entitled to more financial aid than I received. I was wondering if there was a way to appeal because if I went to USC, I would be turning down two full-ride offers. How are you supposed to convince your parents that taking out a $30k loan would be a better option for undergraduate school? Alamemom and josebi suggested many options to help cover the costs that I was not previously aware of, but I am NOT ungrateful for what the school offered me…just that it wasn’t enough to be practical money-wise. I am still astounded I was offered so much I could even consider USC as an option.</p>
<p>Practical money-wise? One of my friends is on welfare, has a single parent, two younger siblings, and lives on subsidized housing. Her mom doesn’t speak English, had CANCER, and doesn’t work. She has overcome extreme adversity. She’s be attending Cal in the fall with a cost of 10k per year. And you know what? She’s not complaining. Her EFC is zero and she got the max Cal grant, Pell grant, etc. If she can manage, anyone can. You have a chance of going to a world class university (USC) at an unbelievably low price. 30k for all four years. That’s less than tuition at a public school for students with no income! Surely if your EFC is zero, you can do work study, seek money from scholarships, etc, etc. Yes, you were offered a lot. And yes, you do feel that you are entitled to more.</p>
<p>No I do not feel I am entitled to more. I never complained. SOMEONE ELSE suggested to me to appeal, and it has been done, so I thought maybe I could. No one attacked me on my thread for asking about it…</p>
<p>If I truly wanted to attend USC, I could have made the situation work; like others pointed out, there are many options to help cover those costs. But 30k is a lot to me, especially when I don’t need to pay anything. The matter isn’t whether my situation is as bad as your friend’s, which I am sorry about, but how much that money is to me. Your friend finds 40k for Cal worth it, but it’s up to me whether I do. I don’t think attending USC will benefit me any more than attending a UC. I believe UCs also provide “world-class education”. For that reason, I believe that yes, I am being practical money-wise.</p>
<p>I only wish i were in your shoes Wowie. My efc was in the 7 - 9k range. And USC expects me to pay 18k+. The only thing you/I can do is appeal the FA package. Cuz as of now, I cannot afford to go there, and will have to go to my state school. I still dont see how they calculated my EFC to be that high.</p>
<p>Arctic92 - with an EFC of “0,” you qualify for Pell, Stafford subs, and Stafford unsubs at the minimum. As those do not appear, it is clear you have not yet received your package. It might have been a good idea to call and inquire before adding to the hysteria.</p>
<p>I agree with alamemom. There are those of us who have to pay the full tuition amount. We are fortunate that we have a higher income. But, we sat next to a movie star’s daughter at a USC function, and find it ridiculous that we will pay the same amount as she will, when clearly her family income is far higher than ours.But, if our daughter attends, that is the way it goes. Attending USC is not your right, it is a honor, and sometimes these choices require sacrifice. I realize in proportion to your parents earnings 30k seems like a million dollars. But most of us sending our children to USC will be suffering,and since most of you kids are good students, you likely have cheaper choices that you will turn down. I also get a little miffed that many families expect USC to pay. We went in to the application process realizing they likely would not.</p>
<p>^^Arctic92, how about starting a new thread with the title “Amazing FA award from USC!” Could help offset a lot of panic that spreads far and wide when kids post their confusion under “terrible” titles. Congrats on the terrific news.</p>
Congrats on the terrific news.</p>