UC and Cal State students are rightly pissed off at their schools' incredible increases in tuition and fees and the virtual destruction of what was once the world's finest public university system. At UCLA tuition has nearly tripled in 10 years. No wonder many have joined the Occupy movement.

L.A. private school USC is no land of 99 percenters, but the administration just announced that, thanks to a $3.8 million “gift,” as many as 40 students will be getting free rides in the next four years.

But wait, there's more:

The donation by the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation will also create Penelope W. and E. Roe Stamps IV Leadership Scholars that will get $5,000 in pocket money — for “study abroad, unpaid internships, summer research or other learning opportunities,” according to a USC statement.

Good deal.

USC provost Elizabeth Garrett said the cash would enable “some of the brightest and most promising minds to attend USC, regardless of their financial circumstances.”

Scholarship hopefuls will have to be nominated by faculty or administrators. The new scholarships will bring the number of official academic “full rides” at USC to 180.

And, despite its “University of Spoiled Children” reputation, USC says that 60 percent of its undergraduates receive some kind of scholarship.

The other 40 percent? They either work three jobs or are the Real House Kids of Beverly Hills.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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