My EFC is like 83k. Most schools will be full pay.
I’m a Bruin, that’s what we called Trojans in my day. My dad went to USC for law school as did my grandfather who went there for both undergrad and law school. The acronym had nothing to do with the actual students, but with the fact that the private college tuition was so much more than our public school tuition that only someone whose parent was rich could afford it. And that so many kids who got in were legacy or recruited athletes, which still occurs today btw. Legacy and to a lesser extent certain sports’ recruitment breeds socio-economic disparity. If USC does away with the legacy bump that would go a long way to addressing at least the issue of helping the rich get richer. (And that stereotype reemerged with the Varsity Blues Scandal.)
USC has done a ton of work over the past 30 years to turn around their reputation (actual and perceived) and I applaud the fact that they have so many merit-aid pathways (unlike so many similar institutions), including half tuition for NMFs. However, not many truly middle class families can afford it and not many people I know who are “merely” what used to be normal upper middle class or upper class, the doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. can afford $95K after tax a year.
If mine gets in, which I hope he does, I would be happy to send him there but not at $95k a year. Since he’s NMF, he’d get half tuition, which is still a lot but doable. If he wasn’t in the running for NMF I would still have let him apply EA like he did because of the potential of other merit-based scholarships, but would have told him that we’d only let him go if he got one.
10 Likes
I’m sorry – you say you net 94k/yr and your EFC is 83K? Something is not adding up. They must have you pegged for other assets and I’m pretty sure home value is no longer a factor at USC, so there has to be something else they’re seeing. I’m not suggesting you can “afford it.” I have yet to meet anyone with an EFC that is within the realm of their reality but, with all due respect, there is no way an EFC would be 90% of your income, if that were all you had to show for yourself. There must be investments, property, a business, a student’s savings, non-custodial parent income, child support or something else in play.
I didn’t say I “net” 94k.
I’m saying USC may cost 94k a year. Which is actually wrong because it’s actually 97k. I’m saying to pay 94k, you will need an extra 150k in income.
I realize you used the word “stereotype,” but it should be noted that Varsity Blues has nothing to do with legacy and USC (as in official admin policy) was not involved in Varsity Blues. (Ironically, if the people involved in Varsity Blues had operated like wealthy legacy families – donating buildings etc. – it would have been legal.) The Varsity Blues Scandal was about wealthy people who bought fake test scores, fake resumes and/or had the help of rogue compromised university employees to deceive admissions officers.
OK, sorry, I misunderstood. I read this:
And thought 94k/yr after tax money was what you were describing as your income when you said you don’t even make that much money.
No. That’s because I said 94k a year for USC. That 94K is after tax because congress no longer allows college tuition deductions. So that money will be AFTER TAX.
1 Like
What I am saying is that the Varsity Blues Scandal was rich/famous people buying their way into college. Whether or not the admin was involved or it was an official policy is irrelevant to the perception that USC is a place where wealthy parents want to send their kids and if they can’t get in on their own, the parents can or cheat their way in. It was a pathway open to only the rich, which means kids of rich parents who gamed the system got in. Middle class, upper middle class or even upper class but not uber-wealthy people could not afford to do that even if they wanted to and rich people wouldn’t try to buy their way into a public school (although I do recall that UCLA and maybe UT was involved). And the sports the kids were using to get in are traditionally wealthy-kid sports (rowing, water polo, tennis, sailing, etc.) - not always but traditionally.
But - we can agree to disagree on this point as I am sure everyone else is sick of our back and forth. Have a great night @legacymom1
7 Likes
For those with the means, USC has a prepayment option.
Prepayment allows admitted students in flat fee programs to prepay two to five years of full-time tuition and fees (regardless of any scholarships and grants), locking in future tuition at current rates
.
3 Likes
Under the Prepayment Option, will the Presidential Scholarship cover half of the current year’s tuition or the tuition amount locked in? Thank you!
I don’t know the details of the prepayment option. The Presidential Scholarship covers half of the tuition at the time it is posted. If the tuition goes up, the amount of the Presidential scholarship goes up.
2 Likes
This is rather terrifying.
3 Likes
Back to their roots in the 1990’s when I was there…
This is just a reference made about USC because it was a well known fact that it was University of Spoilt Children. Even one of USC’s most famous alumni, Mark Benioff refers to it as that, he does it even today. Its a light hearted comment and not a judgment of every kid that attends USC.
5 Likes
It is closing in on USC medical school costs:
And USC law school costs (but that is for only three years instead of four):
Not sure what you mean by “very poor”, but USC’s net price calculator at USC Financial Aid : Net Price Calculator suggests that the minimum net price is about $8k (which it assumes can be funded with a federal direct loan and some student work earnings) and begins to rise significantly above a parental income of about $50k (about the 34th percentile household income), assuming no significant assets. You can try various other financial scenarios in it to see.
1 Like
Light hearted?
Just because some people are not willing/able to pay the sticker price of USC (with all reasons), does it entitle them to “light-heartedly” generalize the students as spoiled, whether those (actually high-achieving) students have parents that can afford the full freight or those are actually on significant merit scholarship/financial aid?
By the way, I hope your son get in RD so that he can decide whether to be part of the University of Spoiled Children.
1 Like
This is really insane . . . a prepayment option of 2-5 years of $95k a year? Who has $200-$500k to “pre-pay” their tuition?
5 Likes
Yeah I hope so too.
2 Likes