<p>I noticed that someone had said they had received one in the USC Transfer Group 2013-2014 on Facebook. It is the only account of it I have seen though.</p>
<p>Just an update, it seems that the transfer merit scholarship “appears” in your financial planner. I don’t see anything in mine so I probably didn’t get it. Hopefully some of you though!</p>
<p>I just spoke with someone in Financial Aid and she said the transfer scholarship comes with your acceptance letter as it is awarded by admissions. So far I have not heard of anyone getting it other than the person someone mentioned on fb.
I hope my fa packet appears soon and has some $$$$.</p>
<p>Quick question for you folks on this thread</p>
<p>I got accepted as a transfer a few days ago and now I’m waiting for my financial aid award letter.</p>
<p>Right now I’m a little concerned because a few weeks back, I got an email saying I’ve been disqualified from the Cal Grants A and B, the ones I’m supposed to receive upon transferring to a 4 year school. I checked my status today and it said “reported assets over the ceiling.” </p>
<p>Should I worry about this? I read on some other places that the schools in this case usually cover the money that cal grant was supposed to provide. </p>
<p>I looked at the award letter I got from UCSD and that seems to be the case, at least with the UC’s. They are giving me 21K in grants + 2K in work study, leaving me with about 7500 in federal loans.</p>
<p>USC will calculate your USC-determined need and put together your award based on that. In cases where the student qualifies for Cal Grant, that becomes a part of the package. In cases where the student does not qualify* for Cal Grant because of assets or income, USC does not leave a Cal Grant sized hole, they meet the determined need anyway.</p>
<p>*This does not apply to your case, but it is important to include: If the student WOULD have qualified for Cal Grant but did not qualify because they did not meet the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) deadlines, the Cal Grant will not be replaced by USC.</p>
<p>All of that said, remember that USC will use the CSS/Profile, which considers assets the FAFSA does not, to determine your need and so your expected contribution may differ (and by “differ” I mean it will probably me more…) at USC.</p>
<p>Come back and let us know how it turns out.</p>
<p>@Katie617, thank you for that information. I must of not got it then because I didn’t notice anything about it in my acceptance package :(.</p>
<p>hey guys, I finally got my financial aid award letter</p>
<p>I’m not exactly sure what to make of it, other than that they expect me to commute. Just to give some foreground, I live in a family of 4 that gets around 38K income a year. My FAFSA EFC was 400 (Yes, I’m aware they don’t use FAFSA to calculate it)
<a href=“http://imageshack.us/a/img19/9396/3iw.png[/url]”>http://imageshack.us/a/img19/9396/3iw.png</a></p>
![http://imageshack.us/a/img19/9396/3iw.png[/url]](http://imageshack.us/a/img19/9396/3iw.png%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>I looked at their site about how they calculate cost of attendance. Looks like 46K is strictly for tuition. USC is paying that through grants + work study/federal loans. The rest I’m on the hook for is 5700K, which seems less like definitive costs (for stuff like books, commuting, etc) and probably ones I can minimize.</p>
<p>Yes, they put your cost of attendance at $51,754 which assumes you will live with your parents or relatives (in other words, rent-free) and commute to USC. Are you able to live at home and commute?</p>
<p>Your package includes $38,538 in gift aid and $7,500 in loans (from that I will assume you are a junior transfer). It looks like you will need the loans to cover the tuition of $45,602. You will have additional billed costs of orientation, insurance (if your family has private insurance, attempt to waive the USC insurance) and some fees in addition to the tuition, so it might be a good idea to set up a payment plan to pay those month-to-month if you don’t have cash on-hand. As you say, the rest of the costs (books, transportation, misc.) are variable and will not be billed by USC - you will be managing them month-to-month out of pocket.</p>
<p>@alamemom</p>
<p>Yeah, I think I can do the commute. I live in Pasadena, which is about 16 miles from USC. I can go by rail (the expo line stops right outside the gates) or drive there on some days. Won’t always be fun, but I’m pretty sure I can do it.</p>
<p>EDIT: Oops! I didn’t see your work study. One moment please!</p>
<p>Correction: Your gift aid is $35,788. Your work study will be paid as you earn it, so it will not be available for your up-front tuition payment due at the start of the semester. Your gift aid plus loans is $43,288. You will definitely need to set up a payment play to spread the billed costs over the semester.</p>
<p>The Expo line is great - the stop is very convenient. If you change your mind about commuting (you didn’t ask this, but I thought I would add it just in case) you would go back into your 13-14 FAFSA and change your housing plans for USC and contact the financial aid office to ask for a re-evaluation of your aid with the new housing plan.</p>
<p>@alamemom</p>
<p>that’s interesting, cause I think I listed housing as my option on my FAFSA. I know I did for the CSS profile. Maybe they determined I lived close enough to do a commute?</p>
<p>That IS interesting - I did not know they had a sort of “attendance area.” Maybe with the Expo line now open they look to see if that works for you - news to me! If you were interested in living on or near campus you could try an appeal if you have reasons why commuting will not work for you. (Though I saw in another post of yours that you were not enthused about living near campus anyway 
)</p>
<p>If you do appeal, let me know how it turns out.</p>
<p>The USC website says:</p>
<p>“Any scholarships you receive will not be in addition to your need-based financial aid but will change the composition of your financial aid eligibility. In most cases, we allow outside scholarships to reduce the student loans or Federal Work-Study in your financial aid package.”</p>
<p>So you can benefit from outside scholarships up to the amount of student loans and work-study. But what about a USC merit scholarship? </p>
<p>Assume that the USC Net Price Calculator gives a net cost of, say, $30,000 (taking into account the need-based award). A student gets a $11,000 USC merit scholarship. Is his/her need-based award reduced by $11,000, leaving the student no better off?</p>
<p>Any help on this issue would be appreciated, as it will determine whether it makes financial sense for our son to apply to USC this fall.</p>
<p>Yes SoCalDad, that is the case. DS receives the Presidential Scholarship and it did not change our Family Contribution, it just reduced his grants. If you family contribution is higher though, it can reduce it depending on the scholarship you get.</p>
<p>Further digging on the USC webpage finds this about USC merit aid (<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/grants_scholarships/undergraduates/usc.html:[/url]):”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/grants_scholarships/undergraduates/usc.html:):</a></p>
<p>“When coordinating scholarships, our office makes every attempt to preserve any university need-based grant you may have been awarded. In most cases, a new merit scholarship received after your initial financial aid award will reduce the amounts of Federal Work-Study and federal loans.”</p>
<p>So I guess that in the example in post #1254, you would get a benefit from the $15,000 merit aid in an amount equal to your expected contribution from work-study and loans. Since the NPC sets the expected contribution at $8000, any merit award in excess of $8000 would not benefit the student in the example.</p>
<p>Wow,</p>
<p>I this is concerning, but good information to know. Our EFC is twice what is shown on the USC calculator. I may look to see if we made any mistakes. But the amount is pretty large and we’re looking at a parent contribution above six figures even with a FAFSA of $11,000 per year and limited outside assets. At the financial aid session this spring I was among many other parents with “sticker shock”. Even so, we’re prepared to do loans the first year while mining the world for scholarships and other resources But if the scholarships only reduce her own loans, and not the parent EFC, that will change our strategy. The application requirements and essay requirements are daunting on some of the large ones. I want her to focus more on her classwork than mining for dollars. I’ve concluded retirement isn’t in my near future :)</p>
<p>SoCalDad, yes they are talking about new merit scholarships you receive, not the ones USC gives you. It all depends on your EFC and the amount of your scholarships. If your EFC is high, and you have a large scholarship, you will receive no grants and your EFC can be reduced because of the scholarship. For example, COA of $62k, USC Scholarship of $42k, leaves just $20k in expenses. If your EFC is $40k, your family will still just pay the $20k. But if your scholarship is $21k and your EFC is $22k, you will receive loans, grants, and possibly work study to cover the difference. It will not reduce your EFC though.</p>
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<p>Artsandletters - what do you mean by this? The entire COA is not six figures. Was the USC calculator 50% low? or do you mean that USC expects you to pay twice your FAFSA EFC, which is common?</p>
<p>Please be sure you figure out how you will pay for all 4+ years at USC, since it is always very sad for students and families when students don’t have enough money to get the degree from their preferred U and have to transfer in JR or SR year because the money just doesn’t materialize. This leaves them with significant debt and a degree from another U.</p>
<p>I am always puzzled by folks who just try to get funding for the 1st year & stretch all their resources for that ONE year. College is at least a 4 year process (often longer for many). Budget accordingly to avoid heartache.</p>