<p>i’d like to say something about the merit scholarships usc gives out. a lot of people are debating whether or not this happens. as someone who was accepted to usc and many other similarly ranked universities, i know that usc gives more merit scholarships. many of the schools into which i was accepted, such as tufts or barnard, said directly that they give ZERO merit scholarships.</p>
<p>however, i’d like to refute the idea that this is a bad thing. as someone whose FAFSA came out tens of thousands of dollars higher than i expected or could afford, USC was the only top-ranked school i could even consider attending. usc is making an excellent decision in offering merit scholarships. even the schools that supposedly meet all “demonstrated need” are losing many middle class students. now i plan to be a proud trojan, only because usc actually offered me a package that didn’t involve $120,000+ of debt.</p>