USC Payment Plan: Terms & Conditions

*Eligibility for the USC Payment Plan is based on the following requirements:

1. You have completed registration for the upcoming term for which you wish to use the USC Payment Plan.
   
2. You have no holds on your student account created by past collection actions.
   
3. If you have used the USC Payment Plan in the past, you have maintained a good record of on-time payments.
   

Online registration for the USC Payment Plan must be done in accordance with the USC Payment Plan Schedule on your payment plan account. Late fees will be assessed as indicated. If you are ineligible to participate, the USC Payment Plan system will not allow you to register for the current Payment Plan term. A one-time $50 fee per payment plan enrollment is due when registering for each payment plan. The first installment (one of five) is due at the time of enrollment. Enrollment will not be complete without first paying the $50 enrollment fee and the first installment when prompted to do so.

Once you have registered for the USC Payment Plan, a payment plan account will automatically be set up. The budget amount for each payment plan is on a term basis and will be determined by you with help from the Payment Plan Calculator and USC Fee Schedule (see the Schedule of Classes). The payment plan budget amount cannot be changed by you once entered. Therefore it is very important that you be accurate in determining your budget after you have registered for classes. It is possible to increase or decrease this budget amount by contacting a counselor in the Student Financial Services office. The budget amount you determine for the current term will be posted as a credit on your student account.

The USC Payment Plan is the responsibility of the student. Any guest access is at the pleasure of the student for convenience but the responsibility of the plan still lies with the student. By authorizing a payment plan guest, the student is authorizing USC to discuss details of the payment plan and the student account balance with these guests.

Payments for the USC Payment Plan are done online in one of the following choices:

1. Payment by Debit / Credit Card by the student or a designated guest manually online according to the USC Payment Plan Schedule.
   
2. Payment by Debit / Credit Card by selecting the Auto Payment feature in the USC Payment Plan secure system and payments will be automatically charged according to the USC Payment Plan Schedule.
   
3. Payment by Electronic Check (ACH) by the student or a designated guest manually online according to the USC Payment Plan Schedule.
   
4. Payment by Electronic Check (ACH) by selecting the Auto Payment feature in the USC Payment Plan secure system and payments will be automatically charged according to the USC Payment Plan Schedule
   

*Note: Stored information can be changed by you or a designated guest as often as you like as long as the changes are done prior to the payment due date on your USC Payment Plan Schedule.

Payments must be received in U.S. dollars by the 1st of every month either by manual online payment entry or by establishing an automatic payment in the USC Payment Plan system.

A late penalty of $25 will be charged to your student account when a payment is not received when due. This will include declined attempts for debit / credit card or ACH charges. Debit / credit card authorizations are processed through a centralized authorization center for debit / credit card payment approvals. If a debit / credit card payment is declined by our authorization center, the payment will be considered late. Please be aware that individual banks will not be called for debit / credit card approval. Decisions made by our authorization center will be final.

A returned item fee of $25 will be charged on your student account for any ACH transfer returned by the bank.

Any student that misses two payments will be dropped from the USC Payment Plan and will be ineligible to participate in the USC Payment Plan in the future.

Changes to the USC Payment Plan budget amount may only be done by contacting a counselor in the Student Financial Services department. If you wish to increase your budget amount, your monthly payment amount will increase.  An increased budget will also result in additional monies becoming immediately due. If you reduce your budget amount, the monthly payment amount will decrease accordingly.

The USC Payment Plan is meant for a single semester. Do not budget more than for a single semester. The USC Payment Plan is intended to fill the gap between your costs for the semester and any financial aid you may receive. If you have signed up for a budget amount that exceeds this gap, USC reserves the right to withdraw or reduce your plan accordingly. In addition, if a reduction in your budget would result in your payment plan being overpaid, refunds will go toward payments made on your payment plan. If a payment made with a debit / credit card results in a credit balance on the student’s account, the overpaid amount will be refunded to the debit / credit card originally used and not directly to the student/parent.

The Student Account is a separate and distinct account from the USC Payment Plan account. You will receive e-bills (email notices from USC) when monthly statements on the student account are available. Balances due on your USC student account must be paid by you separately and in addition to your USC Payment Plan payments. Balances remaining on the student account are subject to finance charges and late fees in accordance with the university’s policies described in the current “Schedule of Classes.” If you have estimated your USC Payment Plan budget accurately, your student account should have little or no balance.

Refunds of any monies paid under the USC Payment Plan will be processed through the Student Financial Services office. All refunds are subject to the refund policies of the university. Refunds will not be issued from credit balances on the student account until all payments to the USC Payment Plan account have been made.

USC Representatives can answer any questions you may have at 213-740-4077.