USC will hike tuition by modest amount next year

USC plans to hike tuition by $2,124 next year, according to unpublished documents obtained by Morning, Trojan.

The 2.9% tuition increase — which puts yearly tuition at $75,384, and the total estimated cost of attendance at $99,218 — is modest compared to the steep price hikes of the last several years.

Next year’s percentage increase, in fact, is the lowest that USC has ever instated in two decades of available online data, with the exception of the pandemic.

It’s not entirely surprising. President Beong-Soo Kim indicated in several interviews over the last few months that he planned to work on “bending the cost curve.”

Under Kim’s predecessor, Carol Folt, USC disbursed record amounts of need-based financial aid, and now says that most students whose families earn less than $80,000 annually can attend the institution tuition-free.

Still, USC’s sticker price is likely to remain one of the most expensive in the country. USC has not publicly released the tuition figures reported in this story, but typically does so in early March.

Tomo Chien can be reached at [email protected].