Princeton has their own financial aid forms and I think it’s worth checking out. They have one of THE BEST financial aid programs in America. They give their own aid so I would go look more into that.
“I think they didn’t know what to do with a low-income Asian, DACA, from New Trier and made it easy on themselves by rejecting him in ED.”
You could be right, but I don’t think it was even that complicated. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if 100 kids from New Trier applied to UC (perhaps even more), and UC accepted 15 of them (statistically speaking, they were probably all full pay too)… similar to the relationship that Harvard has with Phillips Academy and the like. It’s a higher acceptance than the whole of the applicant pool, but still intensely competitive.
You’re probably right, sometimes the simplest is the best, as Occam’s razor would say. But UChicago likes to be quirky right, so why would they follow the Harvard model and take 15 from one school. Wouldn’t they take the quirkiest and move on? I kid…
@HKimPOSSIBLE Financial aid is all over the place and it may be you cant afford to go to college right now. Or you go to community college and transfer. MANY people cannot afford these schools and being a DACA doesn’t entitle you to a free ride more so than anyone else. There are plenty of hardworking kids who dont qualify for enough aid. Quite frankly if you are in school in New Trier you are pretty fortunate. People would be thrilled to attend such good public schools.
I don’t know where you’re getting that I feel entitled for financial aid…I’m receiving financial aid at my high school and my parents have been holding out JUST so I can come to NT, so I’m always grateful for whatever help I can get. Of course, there are a lot of people that can’t afford these schools, but these schools do their best to meet a hundred percent of demonstrated need. I don’t see where I implied me being DACA entitled me to anything; it’s really the opposite. Of course, I know there are kids working harder than me and less fortunate to have the guidance, the community where I live, and education I have.
The reality is these schools will provide all the aid that I need to attend, which I why I’m applying to them in the first place. If they didn’t offer financial aid, it’s without a doubt I would apply elsewhere that did provide great aid.
We’ve been listing schools that would potentially give you very good need based aid. You mostly seem to be ignoring those posts.
Problem is, the OP lives in Illinois, which is one of the states with high in-state costs and poor in-state financial aid in its public universities and community colleges.
But applying only to super-selective colleges means that you are likely to be shut out. You need to include some less reachy colleges where you can get need or merit full rides (note: for merit full ride, reach/match/safety must be based on the scholarship, not admission).
@UCbalamnus I noticed what you said in the “note:” and was wondering if you could help explain a little more on the “based on scholarship, not admissions” part. I always thought FinAid and/or scholarships were something given after admissions (or as a condition of attending).
Suppose College X would be a safety for admission. However, to afford it, you need to earn its most competitive full ride merit scholarship, of which only a few are awarded. Therefore, College X should be considered a reach, because you are aiming for the scholarship, not admission.
Need based financial aid and merit scholarships are basically colleges’ method of price discrimination (look it up in your AP economics book if you forgot that concept) in order to entice desirable (to the college) students to matriculate.
“Problem is, the OP lives in Illinois, which is one of the states with high in-state costs and poor in-state financial aid in its public universities and community colleges.”
I live in Chicago and have three heading off to college over the next two years so I’ve definitely been looking at the numbers. UIC and UIUC are $30k to 35k-ish a year. That’s not high for in-state tuition especially for a flagship like UIUC. They give average merit aid to the tune of about $5k/yr
But…
Many people have been suggesting schools that cover full need and treat DACA students as domestic applicants and/or don’t require them to take out loans, but aren’t quite as competitive as the current Ivy-heavy list. Bates, Colby, Dickinson, Emory, Franklin and Marshall, Macalester, Oberlin, Wesleyan, Tufts. These are all excellent schools. None of them is a slam dunk but they could be more appropriate match schools for you, @HKimPOSSIBLE. If I were you I’d spend today researching them and I’d get in applications to a few.
The desire for prestige is clouding a lot here. And I don’t think OP understands enough to be strategic. Or even weave his way through the info here. That’s a comment, not criticism.
A Meet Full Need college doesn’t mean every penny is covered. Some cases, yes. But not all. I don’t see this as “need based discrimination.” (Most on CC freak at the term “discrimination.” Imo, it’s an unfortunate word choice in this thread, likely to confuse. And not germane.) Rather, the way colleges expect family to participate in funding their educations.
On top of the DACA situation, OP’s father is not working. A brother is helping support them. You’d need the advice of the Fin Aid ‘power posters’ for better explanation of how all of this situation may be viewed by college fin aid folks.
I don’t think OP’s only issue is fin aid. I wonder if there will be an admit to a tippy top. The two issues are getting in and paying, yes. But you don’t pay a dime, if you aren’t accepted.
I’m afraid we have missed some of the good old basics here. Starting with: many kids have to scramble to fund any education. They may start at a cc part-time, look into what money-earning opps there are, etc. And, they have to be spot on about what will make a generous prestige college want to admit them and work with them on aid.
And here we are, on Dec 22.
I don’t see how a gap year to work in a research setting, presumably for no $$, advances the next year’s chances of a “perfectly” affordable option.
Is your brother a citizen?
To GET FinAid and/or scholarships yes, you can’t be confident up to the last moment, so better don’t make neck or nothing with one only U. But for ABSENCE of FinAid and/or scholarships you can be absolutely confidence in advance. If U declaring that it don’t giving FinAid for your case - you wouldn’t get it. If U declaring that it don’t giving merit scholarships for your case - you wouldn’t get it. Trust them.
I totally agree with @lookingforward
As a low income student, you did not do some of the basic due diligence: applying to questbridge, finding out what it takes to get nominated to Posse (Chicago), looking at places where you are guaranteed merit.
Even at schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need, there is approximately a $4000 student contribution from summer earnings. There is no free lunch and it is not a full ride.
WHat is your plan for achieving this (you should have a part time job now). Top schools totally understand a low income student’s need to work and s/he not having as many ECs (work is actually a great EC).
In addition there are start-up costs;
you have to get yourself to the college, whether that is plane, train or automobile
You have to purchase books and supplies for the start of the semester
You are responsible for buying your sheets. Pillow cases, balances and basics for your room and either bringing them or shipping them to campus
You still have a lot of work to do, late in the game.
As an aside, @HKimPOSSIBLE , it is confusing when you continue to say “my parents” instead of “my father” or “my parent” (post 54, post 84). If perchance you used this expression in any communication with schools, this could be very misleading/confusing, as you indicated that you are requesting a CSS waiver, indicating that you have no idea where your mother is.
@HKimPOSSIBLE , what ucbalumnus and others are essentially saying is that you have the best chance of getting a full ride merit scholarship at schools where your stats are well above the average for the school. So this clearly will not include the very top tier and may not even be the tier right below that (where you would probably get some merit but not necessarily a full ride.) This runs contrary to your “prestige or bust” statement, but realistically is your best chance of attending college.
Try local state schools and then go to UChicago for grad school. That would be the best approach in my opinion.
OP: I live in the Chicago area and I am going to offer you some honest advice:
- While New Trier is undoubtedly one of the top public high schools in Illinois, it is not a feeder school to UChicago. Its admission rate to UChicago (based on PDF provided by the school) is barely higher than the other superior suburban public high schools like Hinsdale Central or Stevenson. And it lags far behind CPS Selective Enrollment Schools like Northside College Prep and Walter Payton College Prep. In other words, you were not even in competitive advantage position when you applied ED to UChicago from New Trier. It would be unwise to be so emotionally invested in betting your chance of admission on a highly selective school like UChicago.
- But UChicago is now water under the bridge. It it time to move on. You really don't have time to cast a wide net for college choices or apply to a large number of highly selective colleges or worse, to do both. January 15th is less than one month away and your high school college placement office is most likely closed for the holidays. So you have a serious time constraint on your hand. You need an action plan for a very compact list of realistic college choices in a hurry.
- I am not very familiar with New Trier but there is public information about its college placement. Google New Trier College Placement and you can find the pdf for the last 4 years. Compare the graduation statistics of class of last 4 years to your own statistics. You will probably get some idea which school you may have decent chance of admission.
- Also cross reference the placement list with schools suggested by other helpful parents. I do believe you may have a better chance of admission to those schools who have taken multiple New Trier students in the last five years. For example, Lehigh University has been taking 5 to 7 students from New Trier every year. So does WUSL. Spend more time researching on Lehigh and WUSL and explore their financial aid policy.
- Northwestern takes a fairly large number of New Trier students every year. I don't know where you live but I assume you are in the north shore suburbs. Call Northwestern Admission Office and see if you can talk to them directly.
- Contact your high school placement office and ask for help. Ask nicely but explain your unique circumstances and your sense of urgency.
P.S. I am not ignoring the importance of fit. But right now you really don’t have time to be too choosy. Honestly, you need to narrow down your choice of feasible schools and then pick the ones that will resolve your FA issue and provide you a good education befitting your statistics. Then work on your applications ASAP.
Good luck.
This is petty, I know, but the phrase is “at a loss FOR words.” Interesting to see that college counseling at New Trier hasn’t improved in 40+ years. It should have been good enough to make it clear that you can never assume you will get into ANY specific college. Good luck to you; I have no doubt you will do fine in the RD round. Ideas: Broaden your sights outside the Chicago area, outside Illinois, and outside the Midwest. Look at lists of colleges that meet need (many highly selective liberal arts colleges do so) and get your dad to run some Net Price Calculators.
Just a note to the comments about “parents.” My husband always referred to his mother as his parents also when he was young, even though his father was out of the picture from the time he was 2 years old. I don’t think it’s that uncommon to do so.