Your (Educational Funding) Questions: Answered!



It has been great to listen to from therefore many excited admitted students, but we know that many families still have actually lingering financial aid questions. We thought it would be beneficial to compile a listing of the typical questions we have obtained and have actually the workplace of educational funding respond. Please see the post below for answers to common questions you may have about educational funding at USC:

Why is the EFC based on USC various than the EFC reported on FAFSA?

The information you provided on the FAFSA is used to calculate eligibility for federal pupil aid (including Pell Grant, Stafford Direct and Perkins Loans, and Federal Work-Study), utilizing a formula known as Federal Methodology (FM). FM takes into consideration:

• Total income (taxable and nontaxable).
• resource equity (not like the household’s home and/or business or farm, if the family is just a bulk owner with not as much as 100 employees).
• Allowances for basic living expenses and retirement.
• Family size and quantity of children in college.

Eligibility for university grant funding and other university aid that is need-based determined by taking into account the excess data provided in your CSS PROFILE, federal income tax information and other supporting papers, making use of a formula referred to as Institutional Methodology (IM). This formula may include some sources of untaxed income also house and company or farm equity. In addition, certain other allowances and adjustments may be viewed https://shmoop.pro/ which the FAFSA does not. Using these records allows us to more accurately determine a family group’s monetary strength to be able to distribute university-funded need-based grants as equitably as possible.

Your FAFSA EFC determines the type and amount of federal student help you qualify for, even though the IM EFC determines the total amount and kind of university need-based aid that is financial will likely be granted.

What if my family can’t afford the EFC?

Consider that the EFC isn’t bill but a measure of your capability to subscribe to the fee of advanced schooling, based on your family’s financial energy. Your price, or family contribution, will be based on your real cost of attendance minus any aid that is financial. The household contribution is intended to be paid by way of a mixture of sources including income that is current college or other savings, and/or longer-term financing such as for instance parent and student loans.

Besides finding approaches to keep costs down, families may give consideration to these options available at USC:

• The USC Payment Plan is an interest-free installment plan that allows the family members to pay all or even a percentage of the student’s university fees each semester in five equal month-to-month payments for a $50 fee/semester.

• The Federal PLUS Loan program and loan that is privates) enable families to spread the cost of education over years.

Many families use a combination of the USC Payment Plan and the Federal PLUS Loan to help cover the fee of attendance. We encourage families to evaluate their short- and long-term resources to develop a plan that works most useful for their situation.

Families ought to borrow because conservatively as possible. Students and parents should exhaust all federal assistance available, including the Federal Direct Stafford Loan and the Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan, before considering a personal education loan program, as the credit and payment regards to federal loan programs may be more favorable than those for private loan programs.

Using private education loan programs to cover the fee may result in the pupil taking on an unrealistic and ultimately unmanageable debt load. For pupils who elect to apply for private loans, applying with a credit-worthy co-borrower increases the chance of qualifying and can lower the interest rate.

Although a lot of loans can be deferred, parents should think about making interest payments while the student is in school, when possible, to reduce the overall expense of borrowing.
Finally, that you believe was not taken into consideration when determining your EFC, please be sure to let us know by submitting an appeal if you have a special circumstance.

Just What if I don’t qualify for school funding but can’t afford to send my child to USC?

Regardless of financial need, all learning students are entitled to Unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loans. File a FAFSA to figure out just how much your student can receive.

We also encourage families who do maybe not qualify for need-based school funding to consider these choices provided by the university:

• The USC Payment Plan is an interest-free installment plan that permits your family to pay all or a percentage of the student’s college charges each semester in five equal monthly obligations for the $50 fee/semester.

• The Federal PLUS Loan program and loan that is private enable families to spread the cost of training over years.

Can we stack scholarships?

If you should be maybe not an aid that is financial, merit-based scholarships may be stacked. Please be aware that in the event that you get awards that can only be used to buy tuition, the total amount of your awards might not go beyond the cost of tuition for the year. You need to refer to the scholarship guide that you received for details on how scholarships may be combined.

Whenever coordinating scholarships with school funding, our office makes every attempt to preserve any university that is need-based you could have been awarded. A new merit scholarship received after your initial financial aid award will reduce the amounts of Federal Work-Study and federal loans you receive in most cases. The total financial aid award may also increase, allowing your Stafford Loan to help with the family contribution. In some cases, however, the university grant that is need-based be reduced because the quantity of gift aid exceeds the determined need.

Who is qualified to receive work-study and just how much can they receive?

To be eligible for Federal Work-Study, you must have a USC-determined financial need. In addition, you need to have met all application deadlines, be described as a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen and enroll for the amount of devices your aid that is financial award based on. New first-year students who meet these skills may receive up to $2,500 in work-study.

If you don’t receive work-study funds, you can still focus on campus. Many employers that are on-campus employ pupils who do perhaps not have work-study. You can find jobs on campus through the ‘ConnectSC’ portal on the USC Career Center internet site.