USC Financial Aid Expected to Increase</p>
<p>01/22/09</p>
<p>Pool of applicants for the fall semester represents a highly diverse group of students from around the world.</p>
<p>More than 35,000 accomplished high school seniors from all 50 states and nearly 100 countries have applied for admission to the fall 2009 entering class of USC. </p>
<p>Despite global economic uncertainty, USC administrators said, student interest in USC remains very strong in part because of the universitys need-blind admissions policy, which offers the prospect of financial aid to match the demonstrated need of every student. </p>
<p>A college education is an investment that has enduring value, said Provost and Executive Vice President C. L. Max Nikias. We are committed to partnering with families to make a USC education attainable for all qualified applicants. </p>
<p>USC expects to increase the undergraduate financial aid budget for fall 2009 by eight percent and will not cut enrollments. </p>
<p>Last year USC received 35,899 applications for 2,600 places in the fall 2008 freshman class, representing the highest number of applications ever received at the university. The freshman admission rate was approximately 22 percent. </p>
<p>The applicant pool represents a highly competitive and diverse group of students with broad geographic representation: </p>
<p> The student pool is 6.7 percent African-American, 14.9 percent Latino/Hispanic, 2.1 percent Native American/Pacific Islander and 28.5 percent Asian. Overall, 23.6 percent of the pool is from under-represented minority populations. In addition, 16 percent of applicants aspire to be the first in their family to attend college. </p>
<p> Outside California, the leading metropolitan areas in the United States supplying applicants to USC are, in order: New York City, Chicago, Seattle, Washington D.C., and Dallas. The most represented foreign countries are China, Canada, India, South Korea and Taiwan. </p>
<p> Overall, 54 percent of applicants are from California, with seven percent of international students representing almost 100 foreign countries and the remainder of the applicant pool coming from the other 49 states and U.S. territories. </p>
<p>USC enrolls more under-represented minority undergraduates (African-American, Hispanic and Native American) than most other private research universities in the country (3,030 as of fall 2008). Moreover, USC enrolls 17 percent of low-income students as defined by Pell Grant eligibility. Most importantly, low-income students at USC graduate at rates comparable to the overall undergraduate population. </p>
<p>The universitys graduate applications continue to be strong with a 10 percent overall increase as well as a 10 percent increase in international applications. </p>
<p>USC has the largest university-funded financial aid budget of any university in the country, providing more than $180 million each year of university funds to undergraduates. </p>
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