Student Union
Free USC Tuition to Students With $80K or Less Family Income
The University of Southern California will phase in free tuition for undergraduate students from families with an annual income of $80,000 or less, USC President Carol L. Folt announced Thursday.
As part of the initiative, ownership of a home will not be counted in determining a student's financial need to attend the Los Angeles private college with 20,500 undergraduates, where tuition and living expenses are above $77,000 annually.
“We're opening the door wider to make a USC education possible for talented students from all walks of life,'' Folt said in a statement.
The changes will be phased in beginning with first-year students entering USC in the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2021, USC said.
The university also said it will increase undergraduate financial aid by more than $30 million annually. When fully implemented, the expansion will allow USC to provide stronger financial assistance to more than 4,000 students every year.
An undergraduate's estimated full-time, two-semester tuition for 2019-2020 is $57,256, according to USC's cost and financial aid website.
Adding fees, housing, meals, books, supplies, transportation and miscellaneous costs boosts the total to $77, 459. For students living with parents or relatives the total estimate is $64,715.
In comparison, the estimated annual average cost for a California resident undergraduate living on campus at the nine public University of California colleges is $36,100. The cost for a student living off campus averages $33,200.
According to USC, two-thirds of its undergraduates receive financial aid and more than 21% of undergraduates are from low-income families.
In all, USC's undergraduate students each year receive more than $640 million in awards from all sources for tuition and expenses. More than half of the total is from USC grants and scholarships.
“With this new initiative, we will be even better positioned to recruit students from all backgrounds and strengthen the USC experience for everyone,'' said USC Provost Charles F. Zukoski.
Folt, the former chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, became USC's president last year as the university dealt with a series of major scandals, including the college admissions bribery case.
That scandal followed allegations that the school ignored complaints of widespread sexual misconduct by a longtime campus gynecologist and an investigation into a medical school dean accused of smoking methamphetamine with a woman who overdosed.
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Police arrest 33 at George Washington University protest encampment
Police in Washington cleared a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at George Washington University early Wednesday, arresting 33 people, authorities said.
Arrests were made on charges of assault on a police officer and unlawful entry, the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department said.
A congressional committee canceled a hearing on the university encampment Wednesday. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith had been scheduled to testify about the city’s handling of the protest before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
University parents and faculty members gathered Wednesday afternoon for a press conference to condemn the handling of the protests by police and school leaders.
“The university clearly does not value the students at all and has endangered the safety of our children by unleashing officers dressed in full riot gear to assault and spray our children in their eyes with pepper spray,” said Hala Amer, whose son participated in the campus protests.
Police said they dispersed demonstrators because "there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest."
American University professor Barbara Wien said she stayed in the encampment with GW students. She described the student protesters as democratic and peaceful.
Police started to shut down the tent encampment after dozens of protesters marched to GW President Ellen Granberg's on-campus home on Tuesday night. Police were called, but no arrests were made.
Speakers at the conference called for Granberg’s resignation because, they alleged, she refused to meet and negotiate with student protesters.
“You keep inciting violence and ignoring the students,” Amer said about Granberg in an interview with VOA after the conference. “It will just lead to more violence. You need to talk to your students.”
GW officials warned students that they could be suspended for engaging in protests at the school’s University Yard, an outdoor spot on the campus.
"While the university is committed to protecting students' rights to free expression, the encampment had evolved into an unlawful activity, with participants in direct violation of multiple university policies and city regulations," a GW statement said.
More than 2,600 people have been arrested at universities across the country in pro-Palestinian protests, according to The Associated Press.
Students are calling on their university administrations to divest investments from Israel or companies with ties to Israel. Demonstrators have gathered in at least 50 campuses since April 17, carrying signs that read "Free Palestine" and "Hands off Rafah."
Rafah is Gaza’s southernmost city, where most of the territory’s population has clustered. The area is also a corridor for bringing humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, while shutting off the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, drawing criticism from humanitarian groups. Israel said Wednesday that it had reopened Kerem Shalom.
The nationwide campus protests started in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza that began after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel warned it could "deepen" its operation in Rafah if talks failed to secure the release of the hostages.
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