I have no problem going in debt, but these figures are huge. The sticker price is literally what my parents make in a year. Im sure no amount of generosity in the aid will make it appealing enough for me to enroll. If the cost is 20k or less, I would consider it. However, the prospects are looking like that will not be the case given the increase in the COA this year. USC seems like the educational equivalent of a pay-to-win game. The amount of stress Id be going through monetarily each year making sure to hit every deadline, scholarship, and loan payment is not good either. Why has the sticker price increased btw?
I find this financial aid process irrational. It doesn’t make anyone happy. I thought they would look at financial need before offering merit aid. If a student qualifies for $50,000 need-based aid, giving him/her a Presidential or even Trustee doesn’t mean a thing. However, if you give half of that merit aid to a full-pay student, it’ll make a difference and maybe make him/her choose USC.
FA was updated today with some merit from college. Could FA be updated again with academic merit or is this the final aid offer? Is it a rolling update to the FA site?
USC is a much better school than it was ten/twenty years ago. But are your going to get your money’s worth paying to attend the most expensive school in the country? I guess it depends on your financial situation. USC is doing heavy recruiting to become a more “elite” institution. I suspect they want compete with Stanford (good luck).
I have three kids, one out of college, one in college and one going next year. We were “disappointed” when our oldest didn’t get into an “elite” school. It worked out well for him and taught us a valuable lesson about keeping college in perspective. He has gotten a great job with a top Wall Street firm and did it on his own without the fight on network.
If your kid got into USC there is no doubt that she/he has got the DISCIPLINE to succeed just about anywhere. Their admissions standards this year were incredibly tough. Don’t get caught up in the USC hype/guilt and drop a boatload of money! As I said here a few times this week (and gotten a notice to boot from the thread monitor because there are a few on this board that only want to paint the positives of USC…) this school has had more than its share of issues when it comes to safety, character and sports violations. At the end of the day there are hundreds of higher education schools in this country that will give your child just as good an education for much less money.
Hah they just threw me a Trustee Scholarship out of nowhere! Couldn’t be more honored to be joining the class of 2022!!
It is also hard to evaluate FA offerings in a vacuum. You may want to wait until you have the FA offerings in hand from all colleges admitted to… and then compare each to one another. If USC is where you really want to go, and their offering does not seem to compare, you have every right to point out what others have been offering in comparison and see if their calculations are correct or possibly missing some key info. When our family made the comparison, we found that only 3 colleges actually offered a better net # left over in terms of the expected family contribution than what USC offered. And since none of those 3 amounted to more than a $5K differential per year vs USC, the cost issue was not enough to keep my girls from being able to attend. Had the differential been $10K or more per year, that may have been a very different decision for us. Hopefully each of your decisions will be clearer once you know the full picture and can compare each and every FA package/offering
And again… for anyone applying in future years and wanting to know the most vs least generous… at least for us: Most Aid: Emory, Princeton and New College of FL. Least Aid: UTexas and UMiami – But of course this only equates to our family. Maybe your scenario could be different.
Has everyone’s FA portal updated?
@piranhavator wait so u got a financial decision that you could view that said you didn’t get anything, and then you checked later and the trustee appeared?
@Pewpew120 same
@piranhavator I have the same question as @anathecomma
My portal still hasn’t been updated :((((
@cali1999 same. Frustrating!!
@bigchoices2018 It is!!!
is anyone gonna appeal?
yes ^^^
A friendly reminder based on past years that even if your financial aid portal updates, your package might not be complete. Be sure you’ve received an email stating that your package is complete; otherwise, the amount is subject to change (in your favor, btw).
@Rohael @anathecomma I had them on the phone earlier today and the woman said I didn’t get anything. I called admissions later to figure out if something was wrong. A few minutes after that, a scholarship letter appeared in the admissions section of my portal.
@piranhavator wait, so you did end up getting trustees? Did you interview for anything?
@ttg1125 I did not interview. The process is different for Thornton applicants.
What is the newer dorm for Dornsife (Arts and Sciences)? Trying to determine housing options.