Hey everyone! USC has been my dream school since I can remember and I was luckily admitted as a biochemistry major last Friday! Unfortunately, I’m not sure that I can afford to attend the school given that tuition and costs overall total to $75,000 per year while my parents are making barely $20,000 more than that… does anyone know just how generous the financial aid here is? My parents can only pay up to $10,000 per year at the most and I don’t want to be in too much debt after graduation given that I intend to attend medical school…
Fin aid decisions are not up yet! Anyone know when they will be up?
Is it weird that I’m almost just as anxious for the financial aid summaries as I was for the admission notification? I’m really happy that I was accepted as well but the financial aid is really a decision maker.
@kokoro100 and @Rohael and @futurodehail , it makes perfect sense to be as “anxious” for the financial aid summaries since it could make or break a decision to attend, for many students. Hopefully they will come out today as promised. No portal change for us this morning. It is currently 5:30am Pacific. Hoping they will start to update portals by 9am but based on how portal updates went over the weekend, I am only cautiously optimistic.
My portal didn’t change either
USPS informed delivery shows a letter from USC Financial Aid coming today (Atlanta). Fingers crossed.
Has anyone’s portal changed yet?
My son got accepted in Viterbi engineering comp sci, however, for spring semester – which def threw us for a loop. But glad he made it. Now the question, should he go USC comp sci, or UIUC computer eng (comp sci is impossible to get into at UIUC)? Curious if anyone has thoughts on the strength of USC comp sci? Here’s his numbers:
34 ACT
3.9 UW / 4.4 W – competitive HS
Eagle Scout
OK essays
Disregard the USPS informed letter delivery.
Accepted BA theatre, 31 ACT 4.0 GPA UW. Does anyone know how long it takes for the financial aid “Required Documents” page to update? I believe I completed the noncustodial CSS profile yesterday but it’s still there on required documents. Thanks!
@SCMHAALUM Wow… an interesting update, and it seems rather unique - at least I have not heard of this exact scenario before. Maybe it is limited to Dance or performance-based majors. Hopefully he hears though much sooner and can render his final decision in a timely manner. Good luck…
As for FA portal updates… they too can be a little sporadic, but they usually at least update on the day they say… i.e. today. They also email you a notice suggesting that you go check the portal… so you do not necessarily have to just keep refreshing to see it.
USC claims to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need… but they are the ones determining that.
From our experience… their offering was clearly sufficient, as both my daughters are there. But just be prepared… it can be a mix of many components: federal and university grants (free money), federal work study (a student job on campus) and loans. Unless you are a QuestBridge Matched Finalist… it is not going to be totally free most likely… no matter what your finances are. Even low-income families are expected to contribute something. And they do have to cap the amount of loans that they can offer during a standard 4 yr period. Federal rule / not USC’s. And of course the balance is the expected family contribution as they see it (whatever is not covered by the other components).
Good luck… hopefully everyone’s is sufficient to allow attendance.
@WWWard amen to that. I’d hate for FA to be the reason I have to cut ties with potential roommates I’ve already gotten close with.
Hope everyone gets the package they desire!
@WWWard, were both your daughters offered work study? If so, did they offer a max number of hours per week or month? If CA minimum wage is about $11 or $12 dollars an hour, I am guessing that over the course of two semesters, it may amount to around $5,000 or less? Do you know if USC is going to zing you for equity in your house? I know that may be more of an issue for some in CA!
NMF awards are (I assume?) not included today?
@CADREAMIN @WWWard Thank you both for your help! My son emailed his Admissions Representative and that was the answer he got. I can call them and verify, but doesn’t seem that they will do anything at this point. He was told the wait list is small but still should move on and put down deposit on another school…he got into UCLA and UCI for academics and we are waiting for a few more schools to release their decisions later this week.
Does anyone know what time today FA is going to come out?
@nomorelurker Yes. In our case, they offered $2500/yr in federal work study or $1250 per term… then it gradually rose up to $3250/yr over time (for example - by senior year). Students can work more separately of course, but the federal work study portion is also capped. As for equity… probably. They likely expect family’s with extensive stock/investment holdings or equity in real property to borrow against it using some formula. I would not want to prejudge further. But you will soon know what they expect from you…
@SCMHAALUM You’re welcome. Good luck with those later decisions… and also getting off that Wait-List if USC is where he most wants to attend.
@nairos15 Look at post 4956 above.
@WWWard, $2,500 would not make much of a dent, but I suppose you’re right about being able to find other work on top of that. As you said, will hopefully have our answer today or tomorrow. When I was in college, I generally worked about 10 to 12 hours a week and it was good to learn the value of a dollar.
We were at least pleasantly surprised by the USC offering. They made it manageable at least. Hopefully others feel the same way after reviewing it and comparing it to offers elsewhere. I’ve mentioned it before, but the range can be pretty wide and dramatically different. For us… having a student attend USC was on par or at least within the same range with the final #s due to attend places like Rice, Emory, Princeton and even FSU. By comparison, UMiami would have cost twice as much… UTexas 4 times as much. Clearly, it really though just depends on your individual financial situation & how much an university may want you (in terms of merit or other scholarships) or just how much they commit to aid. Clearly we learned that applying OOS to UTexas is out of reach unless they award you huge merit money. Although my girls did not apply to NYU, friends did and learned that they too offer very little. But we did find USC to be as generous as most others.
For the benefit of future applicants… overall, comparing all 13 admissions and aid packages for both my girls… Emory, New College of Florida (FL’s Honors College) and Princeton did officially offer the most aid though.