On that note, does anyone know what the experience is like on the Shalom floor for dorms?
@piranhavator very cool. Congrats!
@ChenXiaoYun thanks!!
Well - I wanted to share our FA experience today to see if anyone had any kind of similar experience. Our family is in shock at the lack of fin aid offered by USC. My son received a $1K loan ! Even UCLA and UCSB both gave a $11K grant plus loans! UVA offered nearly $20K in grant and workstudy plus loans (incl institutional loans). Tulane of course offered substantially more. I called the office in complete disbelief and sure there must be an error or it was not complete. They said my only recourse was to send a letter of appeal asking them to look again. We of course need more than just a “bit more” – need a financial aid offer period! Anyone else completely blown away?? We were planning to go down for Explore USC day - but will not be going if nothing changes. very sad…btw our EFC is $15K - and though i know they have their own “formulas” – this is crazy…
"our EFC is $15K - and though i know they have their own “formulas” "
are you a Calif resident? USC is a private college, unlike UCLA, UCSB , and UVA , which are all public U’s and will cost you less.
is $15 K the EFC that USC’s financial calculator gave you? or is the FAFSA EFC?
if it is USC’s then send in a letter of appeal.
$15K FAFSA EFC… their online calculator said estimated gift aid was $22-23K
then appeal.
LOTS of accepted students last year reported that appealing a FA award at USC resulted in large increases to FA awards.
But remember, USC is private and probably will never cost as little as a public U.
I was shocked too. I had a EFC of around 10k and got offered 0$
I’m in a similar situation as all of you guys. My EFC is 16K and I only got the Cal Grant. Is it possible that not everything’s been updated yet? I heard that once you get an email from USC telling you to check the financial aid, that’s when the final cost of attendance is decided.
If i appeal, do i address my letter to Mr. Brennan?
@Nomorelurker yeah. expensive school for sure. $72k was 2017~18 cost, with ~2k tuition increase and $450 new student fee (welcome freshman at a cost 
), that’s about right for 75k with all the lowest tier pricing on housing, meal plan and transportation cost. Unfortunately 4~5% annual tuition increase is a true epidemic for all colleges in this country. You can check the trend for USC or any other schools
https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/trends/university-of-southern-california
The cost can only be justified if you had to pay sticker price at lower ivies or equivalent, but got at least half tuition scholarship here.
@netopspin, had no idea 2017/18 $72k would go up to $76k for 2018/19 and that number only allots the lowest dining, housing, and only figures in $500 transportation… as you mentioned. $500 is a joke since it would be thousands flying across the country just for August move in week. Even with scholarship, not sure it makes sense to pay that much and thousands more to be in McCarthy Honors dorm. Yet does it make sense to be a Presidential scholar or National Merit Finalist and not be in the McCarthy dorm in the village where the majority of honors students would be living? Also, then to be cash poor with the lowest dining option while friends/peers are eating at the Tutor Center or occasionally at Village restaurants and/or not come home for Thanksgiving? Alternatively, to take loans and pay the extra, the tab goes to $80k (before scholarships and not much fin aid). Well, today is Ivy day plus Stanford on Friday. May also have to wait to see if S gets off the waitlist at Georgetown, plus S is fortunate to have gotten into Emory so we need to hear their fin aid package as well. Guess we won’t be making any decisions til May. Good luck to all. The stress and waiting continues for us, but congrats to your D on her NMF half tuition scholarship as well.
Question: My student’s portal updated yesterday, and in Section B, it reflects the Presidential Scholarship we knew about, and a $2K/year “University Scholarship”. Would this be considered the financial aid, or is that yet to come? I saw some discussion about a “section D”, which is not showing on our portal. (we have A/Estimated cost of attendance, B/Gift Aid, and C/Estimated Net cost. Is D yet to come, and would it be the place for need based financial aid to appear? Or is that what the “University Scholarship” is?
Just to lend a different perspective, S18 did not receive any need based grant aid from any of the 7 other schools to which he was admitted, but received a $16,000 University Grant from USC in additional to a University Scholarship and a departmental scholarship. So at least in our case, USC’s FA was more generous than anywhere else S18 was admitted.
@FutureUSCdad, the $2k university scholarship is an additional scholarship to add to the $27,000 Presidential so that is $29,000 merit and is not Fin aid. Congrats.
D’s portal has not changed. It doesn’t have any sections showing cost of attendance, gift aid, etc. Will it change or not because we didn’t apply for financial aid?
@Nomorelurker Thanks! So does that mean we should be keeping an eye out for more information, possibly in the mysterious “Section D” to appear at some point, even if it is to indicate $0 in financial assistance? Or does the fact that it updated with the university scholarship and nothing else thus far mean that’s it, and we won’t see Section D or any other new line items appear a this point?
@FutureUSCdad , based on past years, the information in your portal might change. Please don’t consider the information complete until you receive an email stating it’s complete.
Gotcha. Thanks again!
We applied FA and didn’t receive any. In the FA page, no section B C or D. Is that normal? Or there is more to come?