USC Financial Aid and Payments

The time has come to pay to Piper. Dancing the jig always costs in the end and going to graduate school is no different. Completing the application for the Federal Stafford loans took several weeks to process but is now finally completed. The Stafford loans are due to be dispersed sometime this fall, the exact date is unknown to me. However, the due date for payment to USC is August 20th and this is just down the hall from now.

The paperwork that I received indicated that the amount of Federal aid will total $18,000.00 per year to be divided between Fall and Spring semesters. That's good but there is always a catch.

The hook in the salad shows up right away when you look at the financial statement from USC. This semester's tuition and fees total $15,465.00 and some change. Something does not jive (add up to you less cool folks). The nine thousand that I am receiving in loans this semester will not cover the fifteen thousand due and that does not include books. Its time to raid the pink piggy bank cookie jar in the kitchen for the other $6,000.00 plus. The good news about this all is the way that USC schedules the fees.



This is my wife's piggy bank that I am going to raid. How is that for justice! Just kidding. I have been saving for a while now and the initial monies are on hand.

At the at the University of Southern California fees are due according to the didactic (class room) units. The unit cost is a little over $1,000.00. What is fortunate about the nurse anesthesia program at USC is that most of the class room units are front loaded and occur the first year. This means that when most of the clinical units take place in the second year the cost will be much lower due to the decrease in "class" time. So what does this mean for me today. The bottom line is that it will cost me money up front to cover the difference between what the Federal Stafford loans allocate and what USC charges during this first semester. The good news here is that the Feds should be able to cover the rest of the program without any out of pocket money from me after this semester. Cool.

Two more weeks of full time work before a short respite before school starts. I am so much looking forward to this. After so many years of work and dreaming about this day, it is arriving soon. Another great bit of news is that two of my fellow workers from the 4EI Cardiothoracic Unit at UCLA are starting with me. Eliza Ong and Robert Olson are going to part of this and I am so happy about that. More to follow, of course.


Eliza Ong SRNA and classmate.