<p>"But from what the articles say, they used that not to make more FA available to more students, but to make sure that if you earn less than 60,000, your kid will go to U/C completely free -- no loans, nothing -- and you are not asked to give up your pension in exchange for the FA. If you earn 60,000 to 75,000, your loans are cut back significantly."</p>
<p>Are you willing to cut your income in half - or more - to get this benefit?</p>
<p>Here is a link to a general purpose thread on Parent's Forum - it concerns FA and the complaints regarding it:</p>
<p>"Are you willing to cut your income in half - or more - to get this benefit?"</p>
<p>They aren't asked to give up their pensions to get this aid, but others are told to spend/borrow against their only source of retirement income to pay for college there and are given loans, not grants. Look, I'm certainly not begrudging aid to families making less than 60,000 per year, and apologize if I gave that impression. I'm just questioning the fairness of some of the decisions made as to how to distribute aid -- why kids from some groups should graduate without any loans and their parents pensions safe and others' kids are supposed to graduate with loans and with their parents having given up retirement. I'm sure the FA decisions are difficult to make. But there is a valid issue here which probably is that at more than 200,000 for an undergrad degree, tuition is not affordable for even upper middle income families and even they need some aid. Now before people get bent out of shape about me saying this, yes, then S doesn't need to go to U/C (and probably won't) and yes, there are great schools that don't have the high tuition costs where our children can get a wonderful education (and S has gotten into one & well may go there), and yes, then S can go to a state school (oldest does & loves it). But the spiraling tuition costs (even at state schools!) presents a problem for everyone.</p>
<p>Whenever we've called they have said that all merit aid has been given out already. Is that really true? What happens to the $11k offered in merit aid to the people that will not be able to afford to go, will they keep it, spread it around the people that already said they would attend, or offer it to the waitlisted people they might pick?</p>
<p>My understanding is that Chicago factors in a yield of how many students will accept with merit aid, but that whoever they are giving merit money to, it happened at the beginning of April. Libby said on the 3/19 blog post when they released RD decisions that all merit money awards had been determined.</p>
<p>UChicago is not alone in this; our in-state flagship also says explicitly "We give out XXX full rides, and expect about YY% will take them." The state U figures about 50% will take the ride and budgets for that amount. Last year, the flagship was surprised -- more kids accepted than expected, putting a crunch on their budget, honors housing, etc. That isn't unusual among well-reputed state schools these days, either. </p>
<p>In fact, UMD is having such a housing crunch that a lot of juniors and seniors who applied for housing are getting tossed from the dorms. (A new dorm is set for construction, but I think it's two years away.) Starting this fall, they are offering all Banneker-Key scholarship students get four years guaranteed housing as additional incentive.</p>
<p>Others on CC have reported that their students were offered more merit $$/added to the merit $$ list after others had turned down the offer. It's a good question to research when looking at schools.</p>
<p>At Chicago the merit scholarships aren't awarded by the admissions staff or the financial aid office. There's one round of decisions, and that's it.</p>
<p>JHS is right. Response I got from admissions officer over a week ago was:</p>
<p>"Our scholarships are selected by faculty (not us – we only nominate) for the promise that students will have in the classroom and campus community. I cannot point to a reason why someone is not given a scholarship in the same way that is impossible to ever know a specific reason why another person is not offered admission. Scholarship awards have been made for the year and are not re-awarded if students decline our offer. The scholarships are renewable to winners, but other monies are not redistributed to new winners (i.e. previous non-winners) in subsequent years during the four years."</p>
<p>Yup. OneDad, that's the info I had about the seleection process as well.</p>
<p>Lesson to be taken here: if you have some great awards or have done something interesting since you submitted your app (or were accepted in the EA round), forward it to your admissions counselor. Don't assume that an admissions counselor will get the memo from Intel that you made SF, or that the review in your local paper praising your brilliant work on stage will make it across the adcom's desk. That said, send additional material judiciously. Admissions people have lives, too. </p>
<p>S was admitted EA and sent an update in mid-February. I don't know what their timeline is, but S's admissions counselor was very excited to receive it, and he got a merit award.</p>
<p>sparent wrote:</p>
<p>"Also, I was upset that at junior days last year they announced they had just received 100 million donation for financial aid and told the parents not to worry, they assumed there would be more FA for students. But from what the articles say, they used that not to make more FA available to more students, but to make sure that if you earn less than 60,000, your kid will go to U/C completely free -- no loans, nothing -- and you are not asked to give up your pension in exchange for the FA."</p>
<p>This is not accurate. My S was admitted to the U of C. Our income is significantly below the $60K threshold. He was given a grant, an Odyssey scholarship (that is what they are funding with the $100 million), and federal work-study. He was given the maximum Odyssey amount, about $5,200. This is said to "replace loans." The loans it replaces are Staffords and the like. </p>
<p>The amount that we are expected to pay as a family, beyond work study, is over $20K per year. Part of that involves drawing down assets placed in the student's name to zero over 4 years. Part of that assumes that the student contributes the usual summer earnings. The parental portion is over 30% of our meager income. They say that the expectation is about half income, and half assets. The only way to meet it is either to borrow against our home equity or to cash in 401K/IRA money at a huge penalty. (We have no pensions to lose, and we have not been able to contribute to our retirement savings for about a decade, due to unfortunate circumstances.)</p>
<p>"No loans" does not mean what you think it means.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear that. This is the quote (I've cut and pasted it) from the article in the Sept./Oct. 2007 issue of U/Chicago Magazine entitled "Epic Quest" on which I based my comment:</p>
<p>"If they demonstrate need, families earning less than $60,000 annually will see their student loans replaced entirely with grants, while families with an income between $60,000 and $75,000 will have half their loans erased." The</a> University of Chicago Magazine</p>
<p>I thought it meant what it said -- grants would replace loans. I am stunned that you are asked to pay over 20k per year. I clearly misunderstood the article. Thanks for letting me know otherwise. Looks like we all are in the position of cashing in/borrowing against 401Ks or IRAs or borrowing against the equity in our homes if we want to send our kids to U/C. Not a thrilling prospect. </p>
<p>Has your son decided if he is going to go to U/C? Or are you still debating what to do? It's a tough decision.</p>
<p>Consolation - </p>
<p>"The only way to meet it is either to borrow against our home equity or to cash in 401K/IRA money at a huge penalty. (We have no pensions to lose, and we have not been able to contribute to our retirement savings for about a decade, due to unfortunate circumstances.)"</p>
<p>Have you looked at the federal PLUS loans? They are currently at 8.5; some banks offer a percent interest decrease if payments are automatically deducted from checking/savings. The interest isn't as good as you may be able to get on a home equity line, but they are a bit 'safer' in case of familial disaster. I will probably do a PLUS loan this year instead of tapping my HELOC again.</p>
<p>He has decided to go to Dartmouth. I don't think his decision had anything to do with the money.</p>
<p>Oh, and another factoid: he is an NMF. If he declared them as first choice and was awarded a Chicago NM scholarship, it would reduce his grant from them. (Which actually makes sense from their point of view if you regard their FA as actually meeting need, because the funds would come out of the same "pocket.") If he were awarded any "outside" scholarship, including a NMS from another source, it would be used to reduce his work study, thereby reducing his ability to contribute and his obligation, but not ours. I actually regard the opportunity to do work study as a plus, since it is a way for him to earn a couple of thousand dollars towards his expenses without having to go out and pound the pavement for a job. And there is some possibility that the job might be interesting. I would prefer that they allow him to keep the federal work study and reduce the family contribution, or even let him keep a few thousand bucks of his assets, so that he has a little money for graduate school or whatever. But that isn't what they do. Moreover, if the outside scholarship is more than the work study amount, it is used to reduce his grant. Not much motivation for a low-income kid to go out and spend time applying for scholarships, hmmm? </p>
<p>At least, I believe that is their policy. I was given a different answer by every FA person I asked about it. Again, it makes perfect sense if you regard their FA as actually meeting need. Otherwise, it seems like a way to nickel and dime a talented kid from a low income family out of a few thousand bucks, frankly. (A student not qualifying for FA would be able to apply the scholarship to tuition.)</p>
<p>Consolation,
If your part of your family obligation is to be met by your son working, bringing in outside scholarships would reduce his <em>obligation</em> to bring in money via work study. It doesn't mean he can't work - there are plenty of non-workstudy jobs available at Chicago.</p>
<p>Consolation,
Yup. S got just enough merit $$ from Chicago that we won't get any FA from them. That means S gets to reap the benefits of the scholarships he earned vs. having them reduce grant aid. </p>
<p>However, if your S is a $2500 NMF recipient, Chicago doesn't convert it to a school-sponsored $1,000/yr. award and make up the difference from NMF. I now understand why so many people love UChicago, but hate the FA Dept.</p>
<p>MIT lets students carry over external scholarships to summer earnings expectations and encourages students to defer merit $$ to future years. S also could choose between on-campus work and loans. </p>
<p>While MIT gave us the least amount of money, it actually works out to be more flexible in terms of how S can contribute effectively to the costs. His Stafford would actually help with the family contribution if he takes a term-time job and applies part of his external scholarships towards meeting his student contribution. There is also the advantage of on-campus jobs being very plentiful and interesting.</p>
<p>Consolation:<br>
Congratulations on your S going to Dartmouth! How wonderful! I'm sure he will be very happy there and will get a wonderful education. Best wishes to him and to you! It must be nice to have the decision made. My S has decided against Chicago, too (not just because of the FA, but it certainly has had an impact), but is still not sure where he'll go. Not much time left to decide.</p>
<p>Thank you, srparent. I would feel a bit better if he had actually sent in the decision cards! While they remain on the kitchen table, there is always the possibility of a decision change. We are also awaiting the results of FA appeals, although I doubt that they would change anything, because that was not the basis on which he made his decision.</p>
<p>We received an answer to our appeal today. They increased our aid by under $1000, but said that they might be able to do more next year if certain things that we expect do occur. I appreciate the review and the gesture, but I really think that the amount is far from meeting "100% need" by any reasonable measure. Frankly, I'm relieved that S chose another school.</p>
<p>I love the U of C, but there's always grad school.</p>
<p>Hope your S has been able to make his choice, srparent.</p>
<p>Consolation -
sorry that it didn't work out, and all the best to you and your fine son. And, as you say, grad school is a whole other adventure!</p>
<p>Not yet, but he's close. He's down to deciding between Northwestern and Georgetown SFS. We live in the midwest, so this weekend he is going to visit a student at Northwestern just for one last look. Hasn't been there since last spring. Then he'll decide.</p>
<p>Two great choices, srparent! I'd go for SFS if I were voting, largely based on location. (But I haven't visited Georgetown, so it is somewhat hypothetical.)</p>