<p>2 questions about financial aid (as we wait for the package…)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How does the yearly rise in COA figure into the package? If the EFC stays roughly the same but the COA goes up, will the amt of grant correspondingly increase (ignore for now the change in grant as the loan amt changes and the expection for jrs and srs to contribute more)?</p></li>
<li><p>How does USC determine the student summer earnings contribution? Is it the same as what the Profile determines or is it a set amt no matter what the student actually made the summer prior?</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>The rise in COA is figured into each year’s package. It will always be COA - expected contribution (which may differ from the FAFSA EFC) = need. So yes, the grant amount migh rise, but it is likely to be offset by the increase in loan limits and higher student contribution.</p></li>
<li><p>The summer earnings expectation is not tied to the amount the student actually earns. It is the amount the student could make with full-time employment for the entire summer. I am remembering it as being between $2,000 and $3,000 (you can call USC fin aid and ask - they will readily give that information). If the student has an opportunity for research or internship they can contact financial aid to see if a small adjustment in that amount can be made. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you so much for all your information. I have carefully read all your posts and hopefully have anticipated the correct amt of aid. You are such a blessing…</p>
<p>For this past year both of my parents have been unemployed and my brother is also a Sophomore in college. My EFC was $0 and so I expect a generous financial aid package from USC. However, my parents situation won’t always be so bad. My father expects to be working in June (he has received an employment offer that begins then). This means that my Sophomore year finaid will dramatically change and I will lose all my need-based money (which is everything because I didn’t receive in large scholarships like Dean or Trustee) Although he will start making approx. $70,000 per year, this still in no way allows us to pay for the USC tuition. So I guess my question is, what is your experience with students in this type of situation who receive generous first year finaid and then, when their parent starts earning middle-class salaries, they lose all their aid? Are there any scholarships that returning underclassmen can apply for?</p>
<p>It is a very good idea to consider how all of that will affect your package in the future.</p>
<p>Well, if he starts in June, his income will be only about 1/2 what you state and you will still be eligible for significant need-based aid for sophomore year. Even at $70,000/year, if you don’t have significant assets your need would be $40,000-ish and your aid would be significant. Yes, there are returning student scholarships (Georgia Girl maintains a great list) and you can look into becoming an RA (free room). Use the finacial aid calculators at the College Board site and the Institutional Method to put in projected numbers for future years. Also talk to the financial aid office about how your package will look in that situation.</p>
<p>*If you have a Cal Grant, you only need to show $100 of continuing need to receive the grant - though that may change at some point with the budget trouble.</p>
<p>Alamemom that was so hopeful! Thank you so much! This makes it much easier to consider! My family doesn’t have any assets and my brother will also be a Junior next year so that should help. I’ll also look into those returning scholarships. I’m a little confused about the Cal Grant and showing $100 of continue need?</p>
<p>If you are awarded a Cal Grant for your first year (income assets under ceilings, CA resident, GPA submitted, FAFSA submitted <March 2nd), for subsequent years you only need to have $100 in need to qualify - the saying about Cal Grant is “Hard to get, easy to keep.”</p>
<p>Oh, alright, good to know. My family wants me to make sure that I am secure enough in the first two years of college because that eliminates half of the debt.</p>
<p>hello! i have a question. i was admitted to USC, and found out my financial package today…and my EFC was $44k/year. my parents CANNOT afford that. my EFC for the UCs was around $15k/year. i know that USC uses its own formula, but do you think there could have been a mess-up somewhere? USC is my top choice school and i really want to go there, but the staggering amount of money required to attend is frightening. my total family’s income is also around $99k/year (BEFORE TAXES), so the cost of USC ends up being more than half our income! not to mention there are still housing payments…</p>
<p>I got an e-mail verification in early march saying USC got my tax returns and then about two weeks ago they told me that they did receive them but I faxed it the wrong way so they just got blank pages (GREAT!). I refaxed them everything on March 28th, what the likelihood that I get my finaid package this week?</p>
<p>Dimoret, our EFC was extremely inflated compared to our UC EFC as well. I think (hope) that the package has not been completed. It seems that other earlier threads have cautioned against panicking prematurely. Perhaps other posters will comment as they read through their packages.</p>
<p>I can see alamemom and georgia girl shaking their heads at us for not taking their advise and waiting! Dimoret and Minnymom, I, too, couldn’t resist looking! Our package seems to have all the elements so I believe it is complete. (Hopefully they don’t come back and reduce figures!) We have not received any other packages though so I have nothing to compare it to. Our EFC is about the same as our FAFSA EFC though.</p>
<p>Minnymom, I truly hope that we are offered more because this extremely high EFC makes it near impossible to attend USC. I was offered full tuition (about half in loans) to UOP’s pre-pharmacy program, and it makes no sense as to why my EFC at USC was $44k! hopefully, the packages are not final because i REALLLLY want to attend USC.</p>
<p>Dimoret, I respectfully request that if you insist on ranting before you have received an email saying your package is ready to view, that you start a thread of your own to do so. I have posted for DAYS that the packages may appear as partial packages and you should wait for the email. My intent is for this to be a useful question-and-answer thread.</p>
<p>my bad. i read that USC should send an email, but i also read that many people received good packages that reflected the amount of aid received from other schools. i guess i just pre-maturely panicked.</p>
<p>They cannot assemble and present four thousand, eight hundred financial aid packages at the exact same moment. Everything must be entered by actual humans.</p>
<p>my apologies for being so ignorant… the added pressure of my father continuously pounding me on the back about which school offers the most money kind of got to my head. and im just a 17 year old after all haha, but then again, many people my age are brilliant. sorry for causing unnecessary chaos! my fear was totally irrational and unwarranted.</p>
<p>woo hoo… d received her financial aid package and it is excellent. She’s so excited about attending USC Division of Animation and Digital Arts. Thank you USC!</p>
<p>I have a somewhat general question: I understand that the FAFSA EFC and the EFC calculated by the school are very often different and also that my financial aid package may be incomplete (I have not received an email). However, from the two schools that meet all need that I was accepted to, Northwestern said my EFC was around 13k and USC said it was around 11k, while the original FAFSA EFC was 7k. Is it normal for school calculated EFCs to be that different when your family has no assets? My USC aid could change in the next few days for all I know, but I’m surprised that for both schools the EFC was off by so much when we have no assets to make the CSS EFC be higher than the FAFSA one. Thanks a lot</p>
<p>Thanks for doing your research on the email question!</p>
<p>Yes, schools that use the CSS/Profile nearly always come up with an expected contribution that differs from the FAFSA EFC. Some of the confusion comes from applicants assuming the school starts with the FAFSA EFC and works from there - that isn’t how it works. </p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC is used to distribute Federal Financial aid such as Stafford loans, Pell Grant, SEOG, Perkins loans, Federal work/study, Parent PLUS loans, etc. That is ALL it is used for. So if a student has a FAFSA EFC of 0 and a USC-expected contribution of $60,000, they woudl STILL get the full Pell Grant, Stafford subsidized, etc. but NO USC grants.</p>
<p>In distributing their own money - USC grants - USC uses the CSS/Profile. ONLY the CSS/Profile. The CSS/Profile considers assets the FAFSA does not - the one that affects most of us in home equity (see page one of this thread for more on home equity), and the other that is sometimes a surprise is that any assets protected by the “Simplified Needs Test” are considered by CSS/Profile schools. If you were not required to list your assets on the FAFSA, that is because you met the “Simplified Needs Test.” (It used to tell you you did, now the FAFSA just skips the question w/o mentioning the words “Simplified Needs Test,” so this one comes as even more of a shock now.)</p>
<p>It is important to remember that many schools that use the FAFSA-only meet need with Parent PLUS loans (which isn’t “meeting need” at all - get the book “Paying for College Without Going Broke” for lots of info on interpreting your package). Once USC calculates your USC-determined need and awards Federal aid, they meet the need with USC Grants - FREE money. The grants, depending on USC-determined need, will range from $1,000/year to over $40,000/year. </p>
<p>The other factor is the student contribution - USC expects that you will find full-time employment every summer and use all of that money towards school, for example. Studies have shown that students who contribute financially to their own educations do BETTER in school than those who don’t have some “skin in the game,” so you can look at it as USC helping you get good grades :)</p>
My family doesn’t have any assets and my brother will also be a Junior next year so that should help. I’ll also look into those returning scholarships. I’m a little confused about the Cal Grant and showing $100 of continue need?</p>