<p>Hey guys, just a curious quick question. I know many institutions have a “cutoff” where if you are under a certain threshold of family annual income you can expect to be guaranteed zero tuition cost and full financial aid. For example, the UC Opportunity Plan cutoff is 70k annually, and if you are under that you are not expected to pay tuition expenses. Harvard also gives full financial aid to students who’s families make under 60k a year and even include free plane tickets to visit home once and awhile. I’m not expecting to get free plane tickets or whatnot, but I was wondering if USC has the same type of financial aid policy where a certain threshold guarantees no tuition like at many universities and if so what is USC’s threshold? </p>
<p>Nope, no such policy exists. USC guarantees to meet 100% of financial needs as determined by the University, but there is no “Zero Tuition” policy (unless, of course, you get a Trustee scholarship)</p>
<p>Hmm that’s interesting that USC has no formal policy like many colleges. In that case is there consensus about an “informal cutoff” where USUALLY if the expected family income is below a certain criteria they will reduce 90%+ of the costs? I’m just trying to get a consensus of general USC financial aid curve.</p>
<p>It’s a little more complicate than just looking at annual income. </p>
<p>All universities look at other forms of student and parents’ equity. They are looking at student and parents income. If the parents are divorced and the custodial parent is remarried they also look at the step parent’s income. Even though the step parent will not pay the student’s tuition the income is still used in the calculation. Some top tier schools will look at non-custodial parents income and even their spouse’s income. USC only uses the custodial parent’s income in the calculation. One of the top tier school that counts all parents and step parents income is Harvey Mudd. So for Mudd, if the step parents and parents are each making $40K, the total income used in the student calculation will be $160,000. </p>
<p>You will be required to fill out a FAFSA and the CSS Profile. The CSS profile will ask in great detail about retirement accounts, trusts, bank acounts, home equity and second home equity. In short, CSS wants to know about any where that there is an asset that can be leveraged to pay tuition. Some top tiers are also asking about other relatives (eg grandparents) who may have an account set-up in the students name. </p>
<p>In the end, FAFSA will show you a EFC but the CSS profile most likely will produce a different and higher EFC. Each school uses a different formula to calculate EFC. Our family’s EFC between FAFSA and CSS was a difference of over $10K.</p>
<p>My family has an EFC of $0. Neither of my parents work and my brother is also in college. My dad collects unemployment of $21,000 so all schools give me a huge finaid. However, with USC they still said my EFC was $2,500. When I called, they said that this is the lowest EFC they will give because they expect every family to contribute something.</p>
<p>The $2,500 is your summer work expectation, and yes - all USC students are expected to find full-time employment during the summer and contribute that directly to their college costs.</p>
<p>I understand that can seem overwhelming - especially if your family expects that you contribute to the family’s finances as well. For the most part, that last $2,500 are your personal expenses, books and supplies. You can reduce that amount greatly by buying used books online or developing book-sharing plans with classmates.</p>
<p>oh I know, i wasn’t complaining trying to complain! i was just trying to explain that usc doesn’t have the zero tuition cut off policy. btw, i went to the usc explore date yesterday and LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!</p>
<p>It didn’t sound at ALL like a complaint - I just read your post alone and thought it was a question - now in the context of the thread I can see it was an answer!</p>