USC Offers Tuition-Free Education for Low-Income Families

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California will phase in free tuition for students from families with an annual income of $80,000 or less, USC President Carol L. Folt announced Thursday.

As part of the initiative, ownership of a home will not be counted in determining a student's financial need to attend the expensive Los Angeles private college.

"We're opening the door wider to make a USC education possible for talented students from all walks of life," Folt said in a statement.

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The changes will be phased in beginning with first-year students entering USC in the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2021, USC said.

In this March 12, 2019 file photo, people pose for photos in front of the iconic Tommy Trojan statue on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

The university also said it will increase undergraduate aid by more than $30 million annually. When fully implemented, the expansion will allow USC to provide stronger financial assistance to more than 4,000 students every year.

Folt, the former chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, became USC's president last year as the university dealt with a series of major scandals, including the college admissions bribery case.

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That scandal followed allegations that the school ignored complaints of widespread sexual misconduct by a longtime campus gynecologist and an investigation into a medical school dean accused of smoking methamphetamine with a woman who overdosed.

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