How Good Is USC's Financial Aid REALLY?

thefloridavegan
Sat, 23 Apr 2016 03:40:09 +0000

SC claims to give out financial aid to 2/3 of its students, but how much does the average student on FA REALLY receive?
CollegeBoard’s College Search says the average FA package at USC is $48,812, but many USC CCers say otherwise. What’s the deal?
Not to mention that SC is becoming the university with the most expensive tuition in the nation…
Here’s my financial situation, and I do want to get some advice on what I should do, but I ultimately want to get a conversation going about other’s experiences with USC’s FA and how it should be tackled.

Here’s my financial lowdown:
I looked at my parent’s 2015 tax return, and we made about $110k this year. 2015 was the first time my father held a full-time job after being laid off when I finished sixth grade (I am now a high school junior). However, just about a month ago, my father got laid off again, meaning that if my dad doesn’t find a job, my family’s income will be dipping by a lot very quickly.
I live in one of the poorest, if not the poorest, counties in Florida, and a majority of my family is VERY poor and not well educated (except for both of my parents who have overcome very difficult situations and both hold professional degrees).

Here’s my profile/academic lowdown:
Sex: Female
Race: White
State: FL
GPA: 3.95/4.45
Rank: 5/330
ACT: (retaking in June)
C 30
R 30
E 35
S 28
M 27

SAT: (taking in June)

High School: Public, Magnet (“A” School, best/only “A” school in county, top 200 public high schools in US)

APs (my school does not offer many): World History (5)

Junior Courses: APUSH, AP Lang, APES, Honors Chem, Honors Pre-Cal, Journalism 2, Web Design

Senior Courses (potential): AP Cal AB, AP Gov, AP Macro, AP Art History (online), AP Lit, Journalism 3, Television Production, ACE*
*My school is “special” because it offers “career academies” that all students must stay on for four years. I am in the Multimedia academy, so that’s why you see Web Design/Television Production. ACE, which stands for “Advanced Career Eduction,” allows students to have one or more periods dedicated to jobs/internships/in-school jobs related to their career academy. With Multimedia, considering my area does not have a ton of opportunities, I would just be dong a period for yearbook.

Extra-Curriculars/Summer: attended the Washington Journalism and Media Conference at George Mason University summer 2015, active in my church youth group, yearbook staff writer (10th), yearbook editor-in-chief (11th, 12th), NHS member (10th, 11th), NHS President (12th), Spanish Honors Society member (10th – my school does not let you be in SHS if you are not in Spanish III or higher, but my school does not offer anything past Spanish III, so I couldn’t do it after 10th grade), applied for a local leadership program (waiting to hear back), doing a local teen outreach/volunteer program this summer through next school year, co-founder/VP of my school’s Environmental Club (11th, 12th), founder of my school’s Creative Writing Club (10th – got busy with yearbook), possibly going to a University of Florida Journalism camp this summer

Community Service: ~60 hours, but getting more this summer

Intended Major: Communications/Media Studies/Journalism @ Annenberg

Awards: (nothing major, just school stuff) Academic Achievement (highest grade) in Photoshop (freshman Multimedia)/English II Honors/Spanish III Honors, Top 10 (10th, 11th)

Certifications: Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, and Flash; Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel (though my Multimedia Academy/my school is very technology-focused)

Work Experience: worked part time at PacSun lol

I could go on and on about my personality too, but this is neither the time nor place.

You could read all of this, or you could just skim over it and come to answer this one over-arching question: what would my financial aid look like? If you’re a current Trojan, do you have financial aid, and how much do you get? How does USC deem “need” and/or deem who “qualifies” for merit scholarships?

Yes, this is kind of a “chance me” post, too. Truthfully, though, I believe I have done well for what my small area has offered me, and I am proud of that. I don’t think I necessarily need validation that I am a “good” or “bad” candidate. USC has been my dream school since I was 12 and wanted to be a filmmaker. I think I have a fair shot of getting in (once I improve my ACT scores), but there is no way I can go without really good financial aid because of my family’s rocky financial situation.

Discuss financial aid. Go.
(sorry this is so long)