Frequently Asked Questions

What is my student account balance? And how much should I pay to 'settle' my account?

See FAQ: "When is my payment due?"

Your current student ACCOUNT BALANCE is displayed on the 'your account' page of USCe.pay, and is the sum of:

• 'amount due' from your last monthly billing statement ("Previous Balance" below), and
• any new transactions which have occurred since the last billing date - please note that USCe.pay is updated whenever a transaction is posted to your student account.
  To see unbilled transactions click on the link at the bottom of the Account Summary box (highlighted in green below).

See also:

• USC Financial Aid's Estimate of Costs
• the interactive USC Financial Planner
• FAQ: When will my tuition & fees for next semester show on my student account?

To avoid late fees and penalties, payments should be received by the university by 5pm on the settlement deadline. USC's policy on late payments can be found in the Schedule of Classes.

For fall/spring terms: tuition and fees are due typically on the Friday prior to the start of classes. Failure to pay by the required deadline will result in a late settlement fee of $100 being assessed to the student account. In addition, a finance charge of 1% of the outstanding balance will be assessed based on the amount billed. Finance charges are based on the monthly rate, not the daily rate.

For summer terms: because of the variety of schedules for summer classes, tuition & fees will post to the student account immediately and are due when billed (see monthly billing statements for due date).

If you need your charges to appear on a billing statement before the due date, please register at least 40 days in advance of the start of classes. For specific dates and deadlines, please look under "Information" in the Schedule of Classes.

Important information about settling your student account (paying for tuition & fees):

• Inability to access or use USCe.pay does not relieve students from the responsibility to meet the settlement deadline. 
• If you have been awarded Financial Aid and it will not be posted before the term's payment deadline, please contact the Office of Financial Aid for assistance in preventing late fees & penalties (Federal & State financial aid posts a few days before the start of classes).
• RA's and TA's:
  We do not know that you are an RA or TA until your department has entered your award. You are responsible for fees not paid for by your academic department.
  • If you have received an offer letter for an assistantship, please contact your department about posting your award.
  • If you have not received an offer letter for your assistantship, you should contact your faculty member or principal investigator or the designated graduate assistant coordinator in your academic department.

Tuition and fees are due in full for each semester on a specific due date, sometimes referred to as the settlement date. If you have a change of schedule or register after the start of classes (late registration), any additional tuition & fees are due by 5pm on Friday of the week in which they were incurred. There are a number of different types of transactions which make up the "balance due" on student accounts, including: 

• Common Fees: click here for a discussion of common fees found on student account statements (includes mandatory and optional fees).
  
• Health Insurance: Please check your Fall / Spring statement (or epay transactions) for insurance charges. Because charges can be changed based on enrollment status, you need to look at ALL of your transactions to determine the net insurance charge you have been assessed. Student Health Insurance may be waived only if documented proof of comparable coverage from another plan is presented to the Student Health Insurance Office and it meets the University’s requirements. If you wish to request a waiver of the mandatory Student Health Insurance fee and have not already done so, please print out, complete, and submit the waiver form which may be found at:
  http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/Health_Center/ins.waiver.form.shtml , by the deadline.
  
• Housing: USC Housing bills by semester rather than monthly. Rents will be charged to your student account at the beginning of each semester (May, August and December). For Dental student trimesters and MBA.PM student trimesters or Fall and Spring terms USC's Tuition Payment Plan offers students the option to continue paying rent with monthly payments.
  
• Tuition and Fees: The exact amount of your tuition and fees depends on your program, the session in which you are enrolling, and the specific classes you are taking. Some classes at USC require lab fees, which can vary a great deal depending upon the materials used in the class. For this reason, we cannot predict what your bill will be. The rates for most of the sessions offered are published in the Schedule of Classes, as are the standard fees. If you will be enrolling in a session that does not have rates published, you should contact the academic unit offering the classes for more information.

Students have the opportunity to print a registration confirmation after they enroll for each term, showing all their classes and the charges that have been assessed. In addition, we generate monthly billing statements on all unpaid accounts or accounts with activity during the billing period. Whether or not a monthly billing statement will be generated before tuition and fees are due depends on when you register. If you register less than five weeks prior to the beginning of the term, you most likely will not get a billing statement before the due date -- in which case you should check for new transactions your account before you pay your bill.

If you don't have a bill or registration confirmation, or, if you have made any enrollment changes since receiving a statement, you can get current account information by going to our online USCe.pay system.

Fall / Spring terms:

• For Fall and Spring terms, tuition and fees are due in full on the Friday before classes begin for the 'main' session (session 001). The exact 'due date' is published in the Schedule of Classes.
• If you need your charges to appear on a billing statement before the due date, please register at least 40 days in advance of the start of classes.
• If you have registered for Fall / Spring term, you must settle your account (account balance displayed on USCe.pay's OVERVIEW page) in full before 5pm of the Fall / Spring payment deadline.  The payment due date is also the last day to register without a late fee.
• If you have a change in registration or are registering 'late' for a Fall / Spring term, you must pay any additional fees (including the late registration fee), by 5pm on the Friday of the week in which the charges were incurred

Summer terms:

• Summer charges are posted to your student account at the time of registration and will be billed on the next billing statement. Payment is due on the due date listed on the statement regardless of when classes actually start.

SUMMARY OF FEDERAL BILLING RIGHTS

If you think that your bill is incorrect, or if you need more information about a particular transaction, write us on a separate sheet of paper as soon as possible at: USC Cashier's, 620 W. McCarthy Way, Ste. 21, Los Angeles, CA 90089.

We must hear from you at this address no later than sixty (60) days after we send you the first bill on which the error or questioned transaction appeared. You may telephone our office, but doing so will not preserve your rights. In your letter, provide us with the following information:

1. Your name and USC ID number.
2. The dollar amount of the suspected error.
3. A description of the error and explanation of why you believe it to be an error.
    

You are not required to pay the amount in question while we are investigating, but you are still obligated to pay the charges on your bill that are not in question. While we investigate your inquiry, we cannot report you as delinquent or take any action to collect the amount you question.

See also:

• When will my tuition and fees for next semester show on my student account?
• I paid my bill by debit / credit card and my loan funds subsequently came in. How can I get a refund?
• What are the monthly due dates for student account payments?
• My loan has been certified, when will it be disbursed (posted) to my student account?
• Why has the Tuition Assistance benefit I am eligible for not yet been applied to my balance?
• How do I read my Statement of Account?
• What is a "delinquent" account? Or, when is a payment to my student account considered "late"?
• How can I get in touch with the Collections Office regarding my hold, past due account or rejected payment?
• What is USCe.pay? What can I use USCe.pay for?
  • Are there fees associated with payments made on the USCe.pay website?
  • Which debit / credit cards can I use to make payments on USCe.pay?

Categories: Accounts, Credit Balances, e-Bills, Payments