Megan Simon

Review of USC Financial Aid Office

Financial Aid has been a nightmare my entire time ...

Financial Aid has been a nightmare my entire time at USC. If you are not a student who has parents they have no idea how horrible they are for vulnerable people. They'll run system updates during finals, and some people get these notifications that they gave back the government loans and now you owe the school such and such. As if people don't have enough to worry about. I'll file an application, it won't be processed. I'll call and they tell me to be patient. But the thing is, if you're not calling every other day they will not do what they need. So don't listen to them, keep asking about your application. I made the mistake of listening to them. I would call at the time they say call if nothing changes, and they would lose my file or let my credit check with the government expire before processing my application. That alone is ridiculous. Recently I filled out a credit check in May, called over the summer. Kept being snapped at for being impatient and told they will get to my application eventually. So I wait, call a month later. Told to wait until november. So I wait, call in november - oh it will be done in a week. I wait 2, call and am told it will take until december. Wait until december and they tell me my credit check has expired and I'll have to start over. Meanwhile I could have had my package processed and now must worry, what if I don't pass the credit check during finals. Then I only have until the end of holidays to get an appeal. Imagine being a student with no parents that support you and you are dealing with this.