Horrible USC Financial Aid Package

alamemom
Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:29:33 +0000

I have a FAFSA EFC of 25797, and my parents’ adjusted gross income on their 2009 return is 57000.

coppernicus, your FAFSA EFC suggests that your family has relatively high assets in relation to their income. A FAFSA EFC for a family with an income of $57,000 and “typical” assets would generally be in the $12,000 - $15,000 range. Unless there were errors on your FAFSA, that suggests your family had about $300,000 in assets (NOT including home equity) reported on the FAFSA. You would then have to add about 5.6% of assets not reported (such as home equity) to your FAFSA EFC of $25,797 to arrive at the amount USC would expect from your family.

It would be a good idea to call and ask if that is your complete package. If it is, it would seem USC has considered about $250,000 - $300,000 in assets not reported on the FAFSA (such as home equity) in calculating your contribution. If you ask, they can tell you how they arrived at those figures and you can correct any errors.