USC hikes undergraduate tuition by $3,356

USC raised undergraduate tuition by $3,356, maintaining the rate of its dizzying recent price hikes.

Next year’s $73,260 annual tuition, posted Wednesday on a university webpage, will likely mean USC remains the most expensive college in the nation. The total estimated cost of attendance including housing, meals, and books now sits at $99,139.

Still, the sticker price can be somewhat misleading. The school says that nearly two-thirds of its undergraduates receive need-based or merit aid, and a typical student whose family earns under $80,000 attends class tuition-free.

In the past, USC has argued that price hikes allow it to disburse more financial aid. That policy mirrors a general trend in higher education, which has seen universities essentially redistribute money from their wealthiest students to their most needy.

USC undergraduate tuition has consistently outpaced U.S. inflation for the last two decades, with the exception of two years during the pandemic that saw astronomical inflation.

Tuition is one of the university’s biggest sources of revenue. Annual financial statements show that $1.7 billion in tuition and fees accounted for roughly a quarter of the school’s revenue in the academic year starting 2023.

That same year, USC issued $700 million in institutional scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students.

Wednesday’s 4.8% price hike comes at a tumultuous time for the university, which has recently made a series of high-profile budget cuts as it seeks to pare back spending.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated that tuition is USC’s biggest source of revenue. It is not — healthcare is.

Tomo Chien can be reached at [email protected].