By Michelle Gomez

USC’s tuition for 2016-2017 academic year will go over $50,000 for the first time. This makes USC the 12th most expensive private school.

The reason for which USC decided to raise its tuition this year is because as USC ranks from 51st to 23rd in twenty years, it becomes expensive. If USC is competing for best faculty, they need to find a way to get more money to cover those costs. That is why USC decided to raise tuition, causing tuition to cost about $51,442. Not to mention the addition cost of books and housing that students will also have to pay. This means that students would have to pay more money, like around 70,000 dollars to pay for all of these expenses.

APB senior student believes that USC should find other ways to fund these expenses  because students already pay a lot of money as it is.

This could be very expensive for many students who consider going to USC. This then leads students to wonder if they can even afford to attend this school.

A unanimous senior student here at Animo Pat Brown mentions that “I didn’t apply to a private school for one of the reasons that they are expensive. I applied to UCs and CSUs which are a bit less expensive and can be as good as a private school”.

Although tuition in USC will be about more than $50,000, this is only relevant for students with high income.  About two-thirds of USC undergraduate students receive financial aid in order to make it more affordable. USC students received about 480 million dollars of financial aid. This means that students actually have less debt when they graduate from this school.

Animo Pat Brown student mentions “even though USC provides a lot of financial aid, students have to pay more than just tuition, such as housing, books, and personal expenses. It will be challenging to make it through with a tight budget”.

Because USC is trying to become more competitive and is trying to provide a good education to USC students, students who are going to college have to decide whether they would pay a lot of money if it means that they get a good education and access to many resources.

A student here at APB states “Personally i think there are a lot of affordable public colleges that give good education, but I would go to an expensive school that has better education. Only if I had enough of financial aid to follow through”.

Not only do students have to decide if they want to go to a far away college or a big college, now students have to consider if they are willing to pay more than $50, 000 in tuition. This is something that students have to consider because if they can’t afford to go to a certain college, then they have to decide if they want are willing to go in debt in order to go to a good college.