Hello fellow trojans,

my roommate and I have had several uncomfortable interactions with Financial Aid representatives. Whether through phone or e-mail correspondence, they've demonstrated several times to be rude and disregards any kind of petition or reasoning we have. Most of the time the people we talk with have little to no power; they only work as human menus that simply repeat what's on their website; with all due respect, I know they need to get bread home, but their jobs from my perspective are worthless and bring more pain and humiliation to students. There was only one positive experience I had, with a man, who actually was kind enough to even give tips in completing a SAP appeal. Otherwise, I think the institution of financial aid at USC is quite heartless and punishes students. I do recognize they help quite a lot, but they're also hypocrites when they write in their website, "At USC, we meet a student’s full USC-determined financial need." This is the major cause of my anger, and it only superficially covers the other many flaws of the system.

Please, share your experiences with Financial Aid.