<p>^Yea I am asked for the actual documents.</p>
<p>Personal Question:
My mom and my stepdad are seperated; not divorced. This is indicated on my mom’s taxes.
My father is not in the picture.
- does USC require me to provide a copy of my step-dad’s taxes?
- HE DOESNT FILE TAXES for whatever reason, will this be an issue? Or will the non-filing paperwork suffice?
thanks</p>
<p>If your stepdad doesn’t file taxes, then he fills out and submits <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/private/docs/1112/NFSP201112.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/private/docs/1112/NFSP201112.pdf</a> . Be sure to check your financial aid status to see if they need more info.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Hello!</p>
<p>Congratulations to all of those accpeted! As the euphoria of acceptance fades a bit, thoughts turn to the cold reality that USC has a cost of attendance of $56,000/year 
. </p>
<p>PLEASE read at least the first two pages of this thread before posting questions, and if you are very clever you can probably find answers to your questions with a quick search of this thread (virtually every imaginable financial aid question has been asked in the over 700 posts here). If you still are filled with questions, post them here (but if they were answered in the first two pages I will very likely direct you there again before answering your remaining questions ).</p>
<p>Bump-Financial aid information is always needed.</p>
<p>would receiving only $3,000 in grant money from pepperdine be an indicator of poor financial aid to come from usc?</p>
<p>I have a couple of questions/clarifications:</p>
<p>I understand that USC allows students to use “outside scholarships” to reduce the self-help portion of their financial aid award. I have read in this thread that it can be applied to the “subsidized Staffords.” What about “unsubsidized Staffords” and Perkins loans?</p>
<p>Is it true that work study jobs pay minimum wage? Do any pay more? What is the minimum wage in California? How readily available are work study positions at USC? If a student is willing to do food service is it easy to get a job or do the positions go fast?</p>
<p>Thanks…</p>
<p>If my appeal goes through and I get admitted to USC for either fall or spring term, am I still eligible for financial aid or will it all be gone?</p>
<p>caliemi16, Pepperdine and USC do not collaborate on financial aid (but you knew that ). I have no information on Pepperdine’s financial aid process or how likely they are to meet need, so I have no idea how their aid might compare to USC’s. USC will calculate your USC-determined need using the CSS/Profile which considers assets the FAFSA does not, such as home equity, and then meet that need with a combination of Federal aid and USC grants. Please see the first page of this thread for details on the types of aid and loan amounts.</p>
<p>memama, outside scholarships cannot be applied to unsubsidized Staffords (but I send in a request every year anyway just in case they change their mind), but they can be applied to Perkins. Perkins loans have such relatively favorable terms however, I would keep the Perkins, drop the unsubs, and ask to have the scholarship applied to work/study.</p>
<p>Work/study typically pays minimum wage, but the jobs are convenient in location and flexible for a student’s schedule - many outside jobs would not be as understanding in scheduling. In addition, all earnings from work/study jobs are protected from finacial aid calculations for the following year. The students who get work/study jobs are the ones who arrive on-campus with a stack of resumes, something nice to wear to the job fair, and who are willing to apply to dozens and dozens of jobs.</p>
<p>hopefulgraduate1, if your appeal goes through your will be eligible for financial aid and, assuming you submit the forms and tax returns, you will be awarded the same aid as if your were accepted initially. They won’t run out of money. Good luck :)</p>
<p>Daughter is in at USC Film. But cost will be tough. 3 questions…
(1) USC had us fill in the Parents Expense Report thing – does this mean anything good (we were barely in the black using pre-tax income. but I know we realistically run in the red living frugally.)
(2) Can we appeal a decision because we’ll need help due toof distance? We’re East Coast and any parent/student trip to orientation, move-in/out, etc will be probably 3-5K post tax $$$ each year.
(3) She got a few nice merits from some other good schools. Can these be used in trying to appeal her aid package?
All premature maneuvering because we haven’t heard about aid. A call to USC today said that the aid letters are leaving about now.</p>
<p>Hey alamemom, I know you’re sick of my financial aid issues, but…</p>
<p>What do you know about the transfer merit scholarships? Obviously, I am aware that I will not know about this one for a good month or two. After being accepted with 30-something units on record, I’m pretty sure I am eligible. My GPA is also very high, almost perfect. I can’t find much about them on the boards.</p>
<p>And another EFC question…The FAFSA said my EFC was 23k. The EFC calculator on College Board put my EFC at around 17K. Other EFC calculators put my EFC at around 18-19k because I have a younger sister in college half time right now. With USC’s formula, is it more likely to be like my CSS EFC or my FAFSA EFC? AND…is it safe to knock off maybe a quarter from the FAFSA EFC to count my sister in or has that already been done?</p>
<p>RedStar - congrats!
- The parent expense report can be a good thing OR a bad thing. In general, they are looking to see if you are meeting expenses with the income you reported. If your expenses are higher than your income, they will want to know where the extra money is coming from to meet those expenses. If families are receiving “help” from family for instance (free rent, living w/family, money for bills, someone paying the mortgage, etc…), that help will be considered a resource in financial aid calculations, will considered available for future years, and will reduce the amount of aid for which you are eligible.</p>
<p>If you meet expenses with equity loans, credit cards, or other financing, be SURE to spell that out so they don’t think you have some other source of funds. If anyone is receiving “help” from family, be sure to specify if that help will not be available in the future.</p>
<p>2) You will not receive additional gift aid or subsidized loans for the larger travel expenses (though USC builds a travel allowance into the cost of attendance, so in part it is covered), but you can request an increase in you cost of attendance for the extra expense to increase eligibilty for unsubsidized or Parent PLUS loans for travel expenses (not a great option, but it is something…).</p>
<p>3) USC will not negotiate need-based packages in response to meroit packages from other schools, but you can contact the department or school to which she has been accepted and say that she loves USC but as parents, you find you simply cannot afford it and ask if they have any suggestions - in a very few cases, the department will add a small scholarship that can be used to offset subsidized loans or work/study.</p>
<p>Wow! If the letters went out, they are a week ahead of schedule! That would be great.</p>
<p>Good luck!!!</p>
<p>sydney - I am never sick of your questions!!!</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the transfer scholarships, other than that they exist, and that yes - they tend to go to transfers like you who have over 30 units.</p>
<p>Hmmm… usually the CSS/Profile EFC is higher than FAFSA, so you might be seeing a glint of good news. DOUBLE check to be sure you entered “2” in college on your FAFSA for 2011-2012. That should have already been considered in you EFC, so check on that. In addition - have you filled out the sibling information form?</p>
<p>Because the sibling should have already been considered the EFC should already include that, so again double-check that the FAFSA is correct and have your sister do a FAFSA as well even if she won’t quailify for aid. Send it to whatever school she will attend. The amount of adjustment USC makes will depend on part on the cost of the school your sister attends.</p>
<p>*Note to those reading who may think it would be a good idea to “say” their sibling is in school somewhere, USC will both ask for verification of enrollment and look up on the National Clearinghouse site to see that they are actually enrolled at the school stated on the form.</p>
<p>Just checked my FAFSA, and there is definitely a “2” in the number of students in college.</p>
<p>I don’t remember there being a sibling information form, but I do remember filling out every question on the FAFSA that pertained to my sister. Also, the CSS asked how much my parents would be spending on my sister and in reality it is only 300 dollars because she is in college half time as she goes to high school and only her books and units are counted for. I really doubt that USC is going to knock off any money because of her.</p>
<p>I believe that my CSS EFC is significantly lower because it counts home equity…My parents have only paid about 50k of a 350k home that they’ve owned for almost 20 years.</p>
<p>ALSO…my parents took out a second mortgage, which while the info hasn’t been placed on either profile…might help me out a bit? I’m not sure. What does this all mean!!! haha.</p>
<p>You are right - your sisters half-time enrollment won’t help. Only siblings who are full-time undergraduates under the age of 24 are counted.</p>
<p>Do a correction to your FAFSA and add the first and second mortgage together for that quastion. All debts directly held against reported assets are considered. Also add the amounts of your first and second mortgage (and the monthly payments) together for those questions on the CSS/Profile, and then put in an explanation that you have added 1st and 2nd mortgages. If you have already submitted the Profile, do a correction on your copy and FAX it in - you probably can just FAX the page(s) on which they appear rather than the whole CSS/Profile.</p>
<p>There are no questions about mortgage on my FAFSA. I get what you’re saying however.</p>
<p>I called the financial aid office on monday and was told to send them proof of the second mortgage as soon as possible, so I’ve really just been waiting for my dad to give me a copy. As he was with the tax returns, I’ve had to BEG him to do this because he’s afraid of it “falling into the hands of strangers”. I understand his fear, and he doesn’t know that this is a normal process because he never went to university, but my parents are really holding me back here.</p>
<p>So I’ll get on sending those documents as soon as I can. </p>
<p>ALSO: would appealing in person help me out a little better than appealing through a letter should I need to appeal my financial aid?</p>
<p>:) alamemom’s brain wasn’t working on that one - no mortgage info on the FAFSA of course!</p>
<p>Tell your dad that you will not get financial aid from USC without the tax return copies. All you will be presented with are Federal loans in response to the FAFSA. (So bear that in mind if your package appears with only federal loans - if your tax return copies have not been submitted, there will be NO USC grant included. They will update IF you then submit tax returns).</p>
<p>As for appealing in person, if you have to travel to USC to do so, it will work against you to appeal in person. Being able to afford to fly to Los Angeles would work very much against any claim that you have money troubles.</p>
<p>If you are local, you could follow up a letter with a request for an appointment, but I don’t have any sense or information that it would help. YOU could update us if it does!</p>
<p>I got my tax returns in, but it took one hell of a lot of begging to do so. Once I get that documentation of the second mortgage, I think I will have a decent case. </p>
<p>I live within a 45 minute drive to USC…so that shouldn’t hurt my appeal for extra money, even though gas prices are high. I have a very fuel efficient car ;)</p>
<p>I’ll be sure to update how an in-person appeal goes if I end up having to do it. I’m a damn good public speaker, and I’m hoping my push to show up in person shows how serious I am.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>USC will require the CSS/Profile, FAFSA and copies of tax returns every year. They will calculate your USC-determined need in the same way they did the first year, so though the calculation remains the same, the information you provide will change year-to-year in terms of exact income, family size (when siblings get too old to be included in that number, for example), siblings in college, etc.</p>
<p>If the first year your package was calculated with a sibling also in college and then that sibling graduates, leaves college, or turns 25, your package will change significantly! You will receive significantly less financial aid! PLEASE consider that BEFORE you commit to ANY school.</p>
<p>If EVERYTHING on your CSS/Profile, FAFSA and tax returns stayed EXACTLY the same (and it never is exactly the same), your package will still change due to the Stafford loan limit changes year-to year. The loan amounts are:</p>
<p>Freshman year: Stafford subs $3,500 plus $2,000 unsubs = Total $5,500
Sophomore year: Stafford subs $4,500 plus $2,000 unsubs = Total $6,500
Junior year: Stafford subs $5,500 plus $2,000 unsubs = Total $7,500
Senior year: Stafford subs $5,500 plus $2,000 unsubs = Total $7,500</p>
<p>SO, in a hypothetical example where you have a $15,000 grant the first year and NO OTHER CHANGES, your grant will go down to $14,000 the second year, $13,000 the third year, and $13,000 the fourth year. In addition, juniors and seniors are expected to be able to work a bit more than freshmen and sophomores, so the work/study and/or the student contribution from earnings may be increased, reducing the grant another $1,000-ish. If you have internships, research trips, or service projects that will keep you from working as much as they expect, contact the financial aid office to see if they can make adjustments (and I mean contact them later when those plans are being made, not NOW as you are starting your freshman year).</p>
<p>In conclusion, USC does not use a “bait-and-switch” BIG package the first year and then present inadequate packages in subsequent years. Each year your aid will be re-calculated using the CSS/Profile, FAFSA and tax returns. USC will calculate a USC-determined need and meet that need. Even so, expect your Stafford loans to increase as detailed above and your student contribution to go up a bit.</p>
<p>*In our personal experience, our income dropped during our child’s sophomore year, and her aid package was increased to meet our need for her junior year. We were relieved and grateful, so I tend to be an even bigger defender of USC Financial Aid than I was previously . I prefer to keep this thread as a question-and-answer resource, so if at all possible, please direct any of the inevitable rants to other threads or begin a financial aid rant thread of your own to vent your disappointment. Thanks :)</p>