<p>Thanks alamemom, you answered my question. I assume there will more detail email/letters from USC about billings after summer orientation.</p>
<p>We have received several of those pesky emails from FA which tell you a change has been made to DS’s award but there is no apparent change. DS got one just a week or so ago for his 2012-2013 award! Every time, in our case, it was a change in the name of his University Scholarship. It seems every semester they find a new pot of money to take it from, thus they rename it. It started as the generic “University Scholarship” and has been renamed three times in the 4 semesters DS has been at USC. </p>
<p>If you receive one of these emails, and don’t see a monetary change, look at the names of the items. Keeping a copy of each award page when you receive this email will help you spot these small changes.</p>
<p>Alamemom: I see, it’s just from the USC facebook admit group, I was under the impression that most, if not all, of the packages have been presented already. People are starting to talk about their financial aid appeals.</p>
<p>bleachedsnow, I’m part of the USC Facebook admit group, and I, along with a couple students, are still waiting for our initial financial aid packages. Personally, the counselor told me that mine would be arriving in 1-2 days; perhaps they are finishing up and will process your appeal soon?</p>
<p>^Hm, I sure hope so. Good luck on your package by the way!</p>
<p>Does your financial aid award change if bumped to spring?</p>
<p>****bumped to fall, I meant ?</p>
<p>The composition doesn’t change, but the size does. Your Spring package is for one semester and so is, in essence, 1/2 of a full package. If bumped to Fall your package will be recalculated for a full year. </p>
<p>The good news is that means approximately twice as much aid. The bad news is that also means approximately twice as much of a student/family contribution.</p>
<p>Thanks Alamemom for all the information you have provided, I have been reading before I ever posted. Do you know if a written award letter is sent or if this is one area where the information is solely on USConnect?
Also, the generous package we received leaves us with $20K in costs before the work study and loans using the $62K Cost of Attendance. We never expected a full ride and the approach used by USC seems reasonable based on assets and EFC.
To fellow parents and future students, you may want to look at the travel and personal expense components and adjust the number upward even if you have your student convinced of being frugal. Realistically we need to add more for travel and personal so the cost to our family will exceed what is allowed.<br>
Please keep in mind that USC has a form available to request an adjustment to COA for a computer (one-time) and to costs of 2 trips home and back as an increase to the travel number. This will allow for an increase in loan if that is an option your family wishes to take on.
Believing USC is generous and their offer of adequate financial aide does not mean no sacrifice by student and parent or that it will be your least expensive alternative. Most of the accepted students have scholarships from other schools and may not get large scholarships from USC due to the mix. 48,000 applied to this school and there is something special or noteworthy about each one of those accepted. This is what makes this school wonderful and why your student wants to go. We are happy for those who got more and recognize that the success of others in attaining scholarships and awards is not a failure on our part or of the aide system.<br>
As Alamemom continues to point out keep asking politely and sincerely for help the worst they can do is say No and they may even say yes. This was a philosopy my father shared.
We wish all of you success and hope that those who really want USC may acheive the dream and get to FIGHT ON!</p>
<p>alamemom:
I have read through all your posts and have found them extremely helpful. We have received our award from USC and have found them to be generous with grants and scholarships although our EFC is still $19,000 which is unmanageble without signifcant loans. We just completed the FAFSA(after reading the book!) for our daughter who is a returning student at another school. Using some suggestions in the book her FAFSA EFC was lower than my USC student’s. Should I submit corrections on the USC FAFSA? I know they do not use this to calculate their aid but we have no CSS assets so any bit will help. The reason I am hesitant on doing this is we have a small business and with all the stories I have heard about business owners I was relieved when we were the package- I would hate to raise red flags and have the package come back with LESS in aid the second time around!</p>
<p>alamemom- please consider private messaging me. I do not have the requisite number of posts to send a private message to you. Thank you for all you do to help others.</p>
<p>Momof2017 has great advice about the one-time computer purchase form! That is a great way to “keep” some of those hard-won outside scholarship dollars. Refer to post #1189 for more info!</p>
<p>To answer Momof2017’s question about the paper copy, as of this year, USC is still sending a paper copy of the initial aid award to all financial aid applicants. After that first paper copy, all adjustments are online-only.</p>
<p>momxthree, I can understand your concern about the small business - if you were not required to list the small business on the FAFSA (many small businesses do not have to be listed), you would probably be fine in submitting a correction to the FAFSA. If the small business isn’t listed, there can be no red flags!</p>
<p>Momof2017, I would be happy to PM you!</p>
<p>Trojan2017
Thank you. I am unable to PM you as I don’t have enough posts. There is a big difference between the two. Hope that helps until I can get you more info.</p>
<p>alamemom</p>
<p>I think I wasn’t clear on my question</p>
<p>the small business is not required on my FAFSA- that does’t change. My question was since USC uses the FAFSA only for loans,work study(which are part of my current award) should I still correct to show the lower EFC. And the second part is- if I do correct FAFSA will USC relook at how they assessed our business and possibly lower the award amount instead of possibly raising it.</p>
<p>Yes, you should submit the corrected FAFSA. The sort of “base” for figuring aid comes from income and assets as reported on the FAFSA, and then other assetsand non-custodial parent info not accounted for on the FAFSA are considered using the CSS/Profile. If correcting the FAFSA reduces the starting point, it stands to reason that it is possible you would see an increase in aid. As always, be sure that you have marked that there are TWO in college on both students’ FAFSAs.</p>
<p>And no, I don’t think it would cause them to re-look at the business as it was not a part of the FAFSA. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My financial aid appeal is being processed, but the SIR is coming up really soon. Would committing to USC before the appeal is finished affect how much aid money I may get? Like would they say, “Oh, she’s gonna go to this school whether or not we give her the money so let’s not.”</p>
<p>You can request an extension of your commitment deposit date from USC until you receive the result of your appeal. I would not advise committing to a school you cannot afford. </p>
<p>In the meantime, you should submit a commitment deposit to a school you KNOW you can afford by May 1st.</p>
<p>So I am a senior and I was accepted to USC. I had all of my information in on 2/25/2013, but USC did not look at my file until 2 weeks ago when they claimed stuff was missing and then they couldn’t read it. I’m wondering what was the latest any one got their financial aid award. I cannot commit without it and it probably won’t come until after May 1st. I got extensions on the deposit deadline from other schools but USC is my top choice and I really want my financial aid or some idea of when it may come.</p>
<p>Have you provided the missing information and/or readable copies of the information they were unable to read? In general, packages with late information are presented within two weeks of all requested information being received by USC.</p>
<p>Be sure to continue to check USConnect to verify that you do not have any missing documents or information.</p>
<p>I have provided it, right away. But I’m worried that they won’t get me my financial aid before the other schools’ extended deadlines. Is there any way they might provide it in a couple of days?</p>