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When a school costs $60,000+ per year, virtually everyone “needs” a scholarship regardless of income level. I think what you are trying to say is that you think USC is awarding merit scholarships based on need - that is not my observation nor is it USC’s stated position. I know personally several fine students awarded trustee or presidential scholarships who would not have qualified for need-based aid (though they would ALL say they needed the scholarship because they are sensible kids coming from financially savvy families). At the scholarship interviews there were students/families from all socioeconomic levels, but to be honest, I observed far more who would fall into the upper income ranges than the lower.</p>
<p>As madbean mentioned, the “big” scholarships are not a huge incentive for lower-income applicants, as they may get as much (or more) than a Trustee scholarship in need-based aid. The scholarships provide the greatest incentive to those who would have been half-pay to full-pay without them, and indeed those are the students we see posting that they chose USC over other wonderful options as a result of being awarded a large scholarship. High-need kids typically post that they chose the Ivy league option with the superior financial aid offered to very low income kids over a Trustee at USC.</p>
<p>Another important point is that the scholarship candidates are selected before the financial aid deadline - in most cases, USC does not yet know which of the applicants have relatively high or low need. If anyone feels checking the “will apply for aid” box on The Common App will hinder their scholarship chances (it won’t) is free to skip checking the box for USC - USC will still allow you to apply for aid (though be careful with other colleges, some will not allow you to apply for aid if you do not check that box). Then submit your financial aid applications on February 1st - all scholarship candidate selections will have already have been made.</p>