Los Angeles, CA · Private · Every figure is for a student starting in fall 2027. We work each one out again whenever we update the site.
How to pay for University of Southern California
What a year costs here, what brings it down, and what a SmartTuition plan could save a family like yours.
Paying for four years here
Four years here, after grants
$119,704
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $5,200.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for University of Southern California, $99 →Best once your award letter arrives. No letter yet? Get the monthly email.
A family of four with good credit and $500 a month for college. How we worked these out ↓
A year at University of Southern California
| Full price | $103,956 |
| After grants, at your income | $31,472 |
69% of first-year students here got a grant or scholarship from the college in 2023-24, $42,947 on average.
At this income, 52 of California's other 64 colleges cost less after grants, and 12 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Merit scholarships. Highly competitive merit scholarships from a few thousand dollars up to full tuition, awarded on academic excellence, leadership, service and talent. Over 1,000 admitted students last year earned $10,000 a year or more. National Merit finalists who list USC first get $20,000 a year.
University of Southern California's promise. University of Southern California says it covers all of what a family cannot pay. The conditions ↓
Pay less for college
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.
At University of Southern California, our scenarios for California households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $5,200 over four years. How we worked this out ↓
Considering more than one college?
Put the schools you are considering on one list and we price each of them for your family. It is free. It asks what you earn and what you have saved, never your name.
Put your schools side by side →Merit scholarships
What University of Southern California says it awards for grades and test scores.
Highly competitive merit scholarships from a few thousand dollars up to full tuition, awarded on academic excellence, leadership, service and talent. Over 1,000 admitted students last year earned $10,000 a year or more. National Merit finalists who list USC first get $20,000 a year.
What University of Southern California commits to
University of Southern California says it covers all of what a family cannot pay.
“USC Financial Aid coordinates school, state and federal funds to fully meet the USC-determined need for undergraduates who satisfy all eligibility requirements and meet all deadlines.”
USC Undergraduate Admission — verified 2026-09.
Conditions the school attaches to that commitment
- The promise is for students who meet all of USC's eligibility requirements and deadlines.
- USC's own Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports that it met 97.1% of need on average for all undergraduates, and 99.4% for first-year students.
These are the school’s own qualifiers. A commitment quoted without them is not the commitment they made.
Published guarantees you may qualify for
We do not assume you qualify for any of these, and our plans never bank on them. Check each against your own situation with the aid office.
Tuition free for incoming first-year students from U.S. families with income of $80,000 or less and typical assets
Household income up to $80,000. Covers tuition. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
“Incoming first-year students from U.S. families with an annual income of $80,000 or less with typical assets can attend USC tuition free”
How we worked these out
The family
A family of four with good parent credit and $500 a month to put toward college, and the savings you pick. In state, the grants are what University of Southern California reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price.
What a SmartTuition plan saves
The difference, over four years, between a SmartTuition plan and the standard approach: savings first, then loans for the rest. It counts loan interest and the federal tax credit.
The $5,200 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in University of Southern California's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in California, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price University of Southern California at the aid it reports for that income.
Every scenario has parents with good credit and $500 a month toward college. The card above uses the same two. A scenario where the parents would borrow more than $65,000 is left out.
The prices by income
- They describe students who got aid.
- “Over $110,000” has no upper limit, so it averages families just over $110,000 with far wealthier ones. A family at $115,000 should expect to pay less than it shows.
- Each range is reported on its own, so the prices do not always rise with income.
Grants from the college
How many first-year students got a grant from University of Southern California, and the average, are the Department of Education's figures for full-time students who started in 2023-24. They cover every income. The prices after grants already count these grants, so don't take them off again. The Department of Education's page for University of Southern California →
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: University of Southern California's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing, food and books, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 4.0% a year. The grants are the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward the same way. Each price after grants is the cost less those grants. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
University of Southern California's own budget for 2026-27 is $103,162. It also counts costs the university doesn't bill for, such as travel and personal spending. We leave those out.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by University of Southern California. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- University of Redlands$30,702 a year
- University of the Pacific$30,827 a year
- University of Southern California$31,472 a year
- California Institute of Technology$32,397 a year
- Dominican University of California$32,955 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every California college →