# USC financial aid & campus jobs



## Sonia (Apr 15, 2009)

Hey guys. I got my financial aid award from USC today. They sent me an email telling me to log in to the website and look at it.

I sent them my FAFSA in early February and my supplemental form in early March. I talked to the office once when I was worried they hadn't received the form, and they said they were a few weeks behind in processing everything.

My aid award is a combination of Federal Stafford loans (subsidized and unsubsidized) and Federal Work-Study (?20 hours/week). I understand I have to apply separately for all of these if I want them.

Any tips for finding a good job on campus? The award letter mentions the job fair before classes start,  careers.usc.edu, the Daily Trojan, flyers around campus, and "word-of-mouth."


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## ilikealliteration (Apr 15, 2009)

Good questions. Hopefully I'll get my award sometime soon, though they didn't have my supplemental form until about a week ago.

The girl in the FA office I spoke with said that pretty much all grad students would hear by the last week of April.


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## Maijodojo (Apr 15, 2009)

When can you become a GTA? To me that would seem like a lot more fun/more beneficial than having just some on campus job, but then again, I have no idea how difficult it would be to become a GTA.


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## Jayimess (Apr 15, 2009)

I decline work study and work as a student worker instead, because work study diminishes loan eligibility and I need all I can get.  Work study is instead of loans, student work is in addition to.

I didn't go to the job fair, I saw a flyer, bam, I'm a projectionist.  It's one of the best jobs on campus if you can get it, she hires at the beginning of the year.

For the record, though, I had this job my first year and had to quit it a month in.  First year, they say "don't work" for a reason.

TAs are for MA CS majors only, don't really know how it works but it's more like the traditional "indentured servitude" US News always calls being a grad student in their annual best grad school issue and leads to full funding for many students their 2nd years.  

Writing students are DAs, departmental assistants.  The labor depends on the class...if there are production elements, guests, grading involved.  I've had one where all I did was sit in the back of the room during class, and I took attendance.  You get minimum wage for class times and 2 credits renumeration.

Production students are SAs, student assistants.  The labor depends on the class, but also, it's more labor intensive.  You're there for the students, any time they need you, not just during class, but you get the in-class wage, and a nice chunk of money, it seems like they say something like, hey, for 507, we'll give you 4K, 508, 6K.  DO NOT QUOTE THOSE NUMBERS!  I only give those because it's not credit hours like the writing DAships are...it's a numeric value based on the class you're assisting.

For the writing DAships, you're eligible 2nd semester, but they mostly go to the 2nd/3rd years...I think three of my classmates got one in spring of our first year.

For the production SAships, as I understand it from my boyfriend the DP, you have to work a Level One job (I know working in Post production as an editing help person counts, but I don't have a clue what the other ones are, so please don't ask me, I don't know) for a semester before you can apply as an SA.

Hope that helps.


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