FAQ for USC Financial Aid

Colleges & Universities University of Southern California
761

<p>We just got our Aid package and unfortunately it wasn’t as much as other schools or within what we had projected USC to offer. It may be a game breaker and it’s a shame as our daughter got into such a competitive major (Cinematic Arts). So I guess what we’re scrambling to do here is look for suggestions.</p>

<p>Let’s think. The EFC is over $10,000 more than the FASFA EFC. Throw in the reality of transcontinental distance and it’s all the more. I’m guessing that the two areas to appeal are to the Financial Aid office for a grant revision and (as you had mentioned) the Cinematic Arts Dept to see if any scholarships are available.</p>

<p>Two other top tier major schools gave grants of more than $10,000 more than USC and their EFC was $10,000 less than EFC; is this a point to mention? And if adding 5.6% of home equity is taken into consideration it is less than USC’s amount. Hmmm. Also do they take parental age into account (we’re not young parents)</p>

762

<p>Did you receive an email from USC saying your package was ready to view?</p>

763

<p>We haven’t gotten an email. Rather when I checked her USConnect Financial aid page there was a new box that said that I could click (lower right) to review her aid. It was a thorough breakdown of the grant ($15000) and student loans and work study.</p>

764

<p>It may be a complete package, but you don 't know for sure until that email arrives.</p>

<p>USC won’t negotiate need-based financial aid based on offers from other schools. You can ask USC how they came up with your USC-determined need and they generally are happy to tell you. What you can do is say that your child loves USC, but as parents you have to be concerned for the family’s finances and tell your kiddo he/she cannot attend when there are other more affordable options. Then ask if there is anything USC can do. At that point you can discuss the offers from other schools if USC inquires. (Note: if the schools you are comparing are FAFSA-only schools, they can’t really be compared :frowning: )</p>

<p>Once you know how they came up with your contribution, you can address any errors.</p>

<p>Yes, parental age is considered, but if your ages were accurately listed on the CSS/Profile that has already been considered.</p>

<p>Home equity is considered after an asset allowance (which is larger for older parents) at about 5.6% of 2X the yearly income. So in a hypothetical example of $100,000/year income, $50,000 asset protection and $500,000 in home equity, it might add (remember these are unofficial guesstimates…) $500,000 - $50,000 in protected assets = $450,000 in available equity. $100,000 yearly income X 2 for maximum equity considered = $200,000 times 5.6% = $11,200 ADDED to the expected contribution. Remember, that isn’t the expected contribution - the bulk of that will come from considering INCOME, not assets, so that would be ADDED to the approximate amount of the FAFSA EFC.</p>

<p>I advise against contacting USC until you receive official word that the package is ready to view :slight_smile: . Good luck!</p>

765

<p>Alememom:
Speaking for many of us, a real big thank you for all the information that you’re providing to us. It’s real asset to us as we try to navigate these waters. Having a go-to person around like you in so valuable. More soon.</p>

766

<p>Thanks :)</p>

<p>Another good resourse is the book I always mention: “Paying for College Without Going Broke - 2011 Edition.” For interpreting your package, you can just pull it off the shelf in the bookstore (if you want to save the $20 it costs) and read “Part Four: THE OFFER.” It includes ideas to try to convince the school to give you a bit more, and ideas for ways to meet costs.</p>

767

<p>A note to those who expect significant financial aid in choosing housing:</p>

<p>USC uses a standard estimate of room/board charges across the board in calculating cost of attendance and financial aid. For 2011-2012 that figure is $12,078. That is for your housing and meal plan for two semesters. Find the semester cost of the housing you choose and the meal plan you choose, multiply by 2, and compare it to $12,078.</p>

<p>If the housing+meal plan you chose costs MORE than that amount, it will NOT be considered a part of your cost of attendance and will come out of your pocket, even if you qualify for an aid package equal to the cost of attendance. To be clear: If your housing + meal plan for the year costs more than $12,078, it will be an additional expense to you and/or your family. It will NOT be covered by aid or included in your expected contribution. </p>

<p>On the other hand, if the total is less than that amount, your aid will not be reduced - you will potentially save a few dollars of your expected contribution or have funds you can direct elsewhere.</p>

<p>Good luck with your choices!</p>

768

<p>I got a PM saying this thread was hard to find - here it is! :)</p>

769

<p>just wondering, I recently submitted a change in income form to USC because my stepfather was laid off in february. I am supposed to receive my aid package next week and I just found out my stepfather will likely be getting his job back later this month… am i supposed to tell USC about him getting his job back? or does that not matter for the upcoming year?</p>

770

<p>Hmmmm… that is a very good question. Typically schools did not consider current-year job loss in calculating need for the school year, but two years ago the federal government asked schools to voluntarily consider current-year job loss in awarding school-year aid. (But not, as another poster asked on another thread, current-year retirement.) USC is a school which DOES voluntarily make adjustments based on current year job loss - at least for the time being. As the economy improves, the practice will likely retrn to no consideration.</p>

<p>Carefully read the job-loss form which you submitted to see if there is any mention of a requirement to notify USC if employment is secured after submitting it. If there is then yes, you must inform them - but not until he actually begins work. If employment is “likely,” there could always be a change to “unlikely” as the date draws near.</p>

<p>If there is no requirement that you inform them, then no - you don’t have to. They will consider the actual income earned in 2011 in calculating next-year’s aid and account for it there.</p>

771

<p>thanks! ill look at the form today and go from there.</p>

772

<p>The only statement on the form is right above the signatures and states: </p>

<p>I affirm that to the best of my knowledge the information on this form is correct. I understand that USC may verify all estimates of income at year end. Adjustments may be made to current or future financial aid if inaccurate estimates of income results in a financial over award.</p>

<p>He just got word yesterday he is going on payroll Monday… I am just worried that if I do not notify them my aid will go down a ton when they request forms mid-year.</p>

773

<p>That is a possibility. If his actual income for 2011 ends up being much more than you estimated on the form, they will see that when you submit your CSS/Profile, FAFSA, tax returns and W-2s for the 2012-2013 school year. The result might be that the 2012-2013 year’s aid would have the extra amount you received this year subtracted from it. To save yourself the worry of what might happen next year, if it were me I would go ahead and tell them he is back at work and revise the estimate of income for 2011.</p>

774

<p>Thanks, I did end up calling and letting them know. They advised me to type up a letter explaining the situation and faxing it to them… hopefully this does not delay them notifying me of my aid package too long! I’ve been hoping to find out for a few weeks now and stuff just keeps getting delayed! Thanks again for your help!</p>

775

<p>Hello! I just posted a long rant on another thread and thought the contents would be a useful addition to this thread, as well as bumping this thread up where (hopefully) future applicants can see it (though they will all be too focused on asking for “chances” and will say “*after I am accepted *I will worry about how to pay for it…”

</p>

776

<p>Hello!</p>

<p>If you would like financial aid info from alamemom, please post on this thread. coperguy has graciously offered to answer all your other financial aid questions on other threads. He feels my information is sorely lacking in objectivity and he plans to do a MUCH better job.</p>

<p>Thank coperguy! I appreciate the help!</p>

777

<p>

You have it exactly right. They will bill the tuition, fees, room and board. The other expenses, such as books, will not be billed by USC - you will pay those to whomever you buy the books from. If you think you can manage without the unsubs, it is a very good idea to not take it. If you decide later in the semester - even as late as December - that you need it you can request that loan.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

778

<p>hi alamemom! I am a potential undergrad at USC next year, and I have some questions about assets. For my CSS profile, under amount of money in checkings, savings, and cash, I put $2500(I do not know why I put this, maybe it was a mistake). I saw this today, and asked my mom, and she said that she has about $50,000 in her savings. USC has given me 30k in university grants, and added together with federal grants and workstudy/loans, my parents will only have to pay $7,000 for my attendance at USC next year. I was wondering, do I have to report this error in my parent’s assets at USC? And if I do, how much will this affect the amount of university grant that I get? Also, my parent’s house is worth 300k of assets. Is it strange that I am getting 30k (which seems like a lot to me) in grants from USC? Or is it because my parents’ income (which is pretty low) was taken into account, and that made the maximum equity accounted for go down? Also, for 2010 (which was looked at for my current USC financial aid), my mom was unemployed the entire year, and my dad half the year. This year, my mom is likely to work half the year, same with my dad. I’ve asked her what my family’s gross income will be next year, and she said that it will be relatively the same, maybe even less (due to the fact that the money recieved from unemployment funds were greater than the amount gained from working this year, 2011). Will the fact that my parents worked more, but the gross income remains the same, affect the amount of university grants that I will recieve my sophmore year (2012-2013)? Sorry for all these questions, but I have high hopes on going to USC, just hesitant because of the fact that I will be depending on university grants for the next 4 years.</p>

779

<p>Hello!</p>

<p>The correct asset amount to report is the amount in their accounts (as well as ANY cash in safe deposit boxes or buried in jars in the back yard :slight_smile: ) as of the day the CSS/Profile was filed for the Profile, and as of the day the FAFSA was filed for the FAFSA. (So if you file them on different dates they might have different numbers that would be “correct.”)</p>

<p>It would be a very good idea for your parents to double-check their bank statements from the time you filed the forms to see if the numbers were correct. If they were off by $47,500, then yes, you must do corrections.</p>

<p>Income is the biggest factor in figuring your expected contribution, so it is not out of the question that your package is correct. Everyone has an asset protection allowance depending on the age of the parents and home equity in the primary residence is capped at approximately 2X the income. So your entire $300,000 in equity was probably not considered.</p>

<p>The number of days or hours your parents work will not be a factor in future aid calculation - the amount of money they earn will be, so if the income remains the same the aid is likely to be a similar amount.</p>

<p>Colleges do have a double-check in place for savings balances - the tax returns contain information about interest earned on investments. If your tax returns show interest income that suggests $50,000 in savings but $2,500 in savings have been reported, that might raise a red flag. For your own peace of mind, I feel it would be a good idea to look back at the bank statements to see what the correct amount would be for savings balances and make the correction. If you do have $47,500 more in savings than you reported, it might add about $2,660 to your expected contribution when you change it to the correct amount. When you consider that you have received ~$50,000 in aid, that would be a small price to pay to be sure everything is in order and there are no future problems if the discrepancy is discovered.</p>

<p>For future years, USC will calculate your aid as they did this year - based on the prior year’s financial information. If things were to remain exactly the same (and they never do), your grant would fall by $1,000 and your Stafford would go up by $1,000 to the sophomore limit of $6,500. If your parent’s income and/or assets rise in 2011 you would get less aid, if their income and assets go down, you might get more.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

780

<p>

Post #154:

    • Yes, they will grant aid if you are eligible. It may or may not be reduced aid.
    • Yes, you are fully eligible for aid in future years with an on-time application those years.</p>

<p>Have you:
-submitted the CSS/Profile
-Submitted the FAFSA
-Uploaded or FAXed in copies of parent and student tax returns and W-2s
?</p>

<p>If so, then you will be eligible for aid, but it may or may not be reduced aid because of the late application (in future years it would not be reduced, assuming you submiited everything on time in future years).</p>

<p>If you have reasons why your application was late, you can send in documentation of those reasons. Brief instructions here: [USC</a> Financial Aid - Applying & Receiving Financial Aid - Special Circumstances - Factors We Will Consider](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/special/lateapplication.html]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/special/lateapplication.html)</p>

<p>Other than the above, there isn’t really anything to “appeal” until you actually receive the package. Once you get it you can address the result in an appeal if you feel it is appropriate.</p>

<p>The package may not be presented before the commitment deadline because of the late submission. You can ask for an extension from USC of the commitment deadline, but you may have to deposit elsewhere in the meantime to be sure you have a workable option in case the aid is not enough to make it possible for you to attend.</p>

<p>*I have seen anecdotal evidence of accepted students submitting late applications and receiving all the aid for which they would have been eligible with an on-time application, as well as examples where the aid was somewhat reduced, so it is important to keep your other options available as you wait for your package.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>