USC is reducing funding toward merit scholarships for incoming students due to budgetary constraints, a University statement to the Daily Trojan read. The University did not reveal the amount of the reduction. This was first reported by Morning, Trojan.

“In our ongoing budgetary efforts, we are taking a wide range of steps to address our structural deficit. Among the changes we have made has been some reduction in the funds dedicated to merit aid scholarships,” the University wrote. “This has allowed us to protect the need-based aid pool and meet our commitment to meeting the full financial need of all students.”

Merit scholarships include the full-tuition Trustee Scholarship, the half-tuition Presidential Scholarship and the one-quarter tuition Deans Scholarship. Since 2020, the need-based aid provided by the University has increased by roughly $84 million — a 29.3% increase. 

The University announced it was implementing budget cuts to address a structural deficit and planned to direct all schools and administrative units to identify ways to reduce spending in a letter published to its “We Are SC” page Monday. Alongside a reduction in scholarship funding, the University has implemented a staff hiring freeze, faculty hiring restrictions and will reassess its projects and contracts.

In December 2024, the University reduced the amount awarded to National Merit Finalists from half tuition — around $34,952 this year — to $20,000. The scholarship is awarded to students with exceptionally high PSAT scores.

Approximately 19% of the 2024 first-year class received merit-based scholarships, according to USC’s financial aid website. In the 2023-2024 academic year, the University allocated roughly $85 million in non-need-based scholarships.

According to the Trojan Scholar Society, approximately 200 Presidential Scholarships and 100 Trustee Scholarships are awarded each year. 

“It’s really frustrating hearing after all the tuition increases that happen year after year,” said Melissa Qin, a Trustee Scholarship recipient and a senior majoring in neuroscience. “With all the other things that are being cut back, it really makes you wonder where the money is all going.”

Qin said her scholarship was the determining factor in her enrollment at USC. Qin initially committed to Georgetown University before receiving the Trustee Scholarship. Qin also said her scholarship will help her attend medical school next year.

“Tuition was always something that very heavily weighed on my family because there’s a certain amount of income you earn where you don’t qualify enough for financial aid, but you also have the significant burden of paying all the tuition,” Qin said. “The USC Trustee Scholarship was very helpful.”

Orion Dennin, a Presidential Scholarship recipient and a junior majoring in public policy, said merit scholarships have been a part of the University’s draw to students. Dennin called for financial transparency from the University about where funds are being reallocated.

“A lot of people I knew ended up choosing USC over Harvard and Columbia and Stanford and all those crazy kinds of schools,” Dennin said. “USC probably wouldn’t have motivated them to choose USC had they not received a merit scholarship.”

Dennin said merit scholarships make education “more accessible” and are valuable in providing diversity to the University.

“It’s the thing that brings all of these different perspectives, not just across economic classes, but also across geographic locations, racial and gender divides,” Dennin said.

Disclaimer: Orion Dennin was an opinion staff writer at the Daily Trojan in Spring 2023. Dennin is no longer affiliated with the paper.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated March 28 at 10:30 a.m. to add attribution.