Can't Afford UChicago - Need Help

Paying for College
1

<p>I'm essentially crossposting this from the UChicago forum, in hopes I can get some help.</p>

<p>I got accepted to UChicago yesterday. This is wonderful, but it appears there is absolutely no way in hell I can afford it. Here's the breakdown:</p>

<p>The cost is AT LEAST 57k a year.
I received 12k in aid (7000 grant + 5000 "Uchicago Scholar").
My parents can pay maybe 20k a year. If I begged, possibly a little more, but I would consider 25k both a godsend and an absolute ceiling.
This leaves 57-12-25=20k left to pay.</p>

<p>Through workstudy, a summer job, and loans, I could cover, at max, 10k a year.</p>

<p>This leaves 10k a year left that I need to come up with. And that is if the stars align and I want to go into massive debt. I will definitely be applying to scholarships, but I don't see how scholarships can amount to even near 10k a year.</p>

<p>I simply see no way I can currently afford this college.</p>

<p>What are my options? Should I call up the admission office and beg for more? Should I just forget about UChicago? Are my numbers drastically off somewhere?</p>

<p>For the love of God, what can I do?</p>

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<p>You can call financial aid at UChi and talk to them…but if they cannot increase your aid, you will have to find a college you can afford.</p>

3

<p>$10K in loans per year is not trivial, but it’s not “massive debt”. I can understand that you may not want to take it on, especially if you have plans for post-grad study, or will be working in a field that is not highly paid, but it’s well within the range of what many, many students cope with.</p>

4

<p>The issue is what your parents think they ‘can afford’, i.e., what they want to pay, and what UoC says that they should pay, i.e., your EFC. Chicago is not known to be particularly generous with $$, but they do meet full need as they define it. Other colleges will calculate need in a similar method. It’s only the extremely well-endowed colleges that are generous with need-based money. Your other options are: merit aid colleges, or no-loan colleges (such as Vandy).</p>

<p>But before you call, take a look to see if you made any mistakes filling out the estimated Profile.</p>

5

<p>By $10K in loans, means $10K after the loans in his aid package. He’ll end up with $70K plus in loans. Too much for undergrad.</p>

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<p>@thumper1 I know. But I would really like to go to this school. But thanks for the dose of reality.</p>

<p>@MommaJ Could you provide some more information on what standard loan rates are for people going to these kinds of schools? My parents balk at me even taking on 5k a year.</p>

<p>@bluebayou Thanks.</p>

<p>When I call, what exactly should I say? What kinds of questions should I ask to make sure there are no mistakes and I am getting the full aid due to me? </p>

<p>Is there any way I can find out how they break down EFC so I can get a better idea of where exactly all of this money is supposed to come from?</p>

<p>And I will double-check the profile. Thanks.</p>

7

<p>I believe the OP is talking about 10K in loans PER YEAR, totaling 40K on top of taking the maximum Stafford Loans. A student would need a co-signer for these loans and would come out of college about 67K in personal debt. </p>

<p>Can your parents pay 20K - 25K per year out of current earnings and savings? Would they be able/ willing to cover the 10K per year through a Parent PLUS loan, OR does the 20K - 25K per year INCLUDE borrowing for them?</p>

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<p>@KatMT I believe the 20-25K would be out of current earnings and savings.</p>

<p>What I know for sure is that after grants and parental contributions, I have 20k a year left to pay, AT LEAST.</p>

<p>Is there anyway I can make this up through a combination of workstudy, a summer job, student loans, and parental loans?</p>

<p>EDIT: I’m not familiar with all of this Stafford and Parent PLUS business. Could this help in anyway? Could someone explain?</p>

9

<p>You can borrow to cover college costs. BUT anything above and beyond the Stafford loans will either be in your parents’ names OR will require a cosigner to get the loans. Will your parents take out additional loans for college for you? Would they cosign a large loan each year (remember, college is FOUR years…not just this year)? Those are the questions to ask your parents. They are the ones who can help you with this decision.</p>

<p>If they cannot or will not cosign or take out additional loans, you will not be able to get them on your own.</p>

10

<p>All college freshmen who complete the FAFSA (I believe) may take out 5500 is stafford loans. The amount the student may take out each year grows with 7500 being the top amount in senior year (I believe). This totals about 27,000 in student loan debt for undergraduate school over a four year period. Many believe that students should not take more than this in their name to finance undergraduate education. </p>

<p>The Parent PLUS loan is an education loan that your parents could apply for to cover the “gap” between what they can afford through savings and their current earnings, grants (from the school and government [if applicable]), your earnings (summer, work-study), and the Stafford loans (and Perkins if you qualify) that you can take out in your name. This is an educational loan in their name. </p>

<p>Students can also look into private loans in their own name, but will need a co-signer. This can add up to ALOT of debt for a student coming out of undergrad.</p>

11

<p>MommaJ seems to have overlooked that this student will already have federal student loans…**to add an ADDITIONAL $40k will leave him with $70k in debt. ** So, interest rates, etc, is not the issue. The issue is that $70k is too much and you would need your parents to co-sign…which they smartly won’t do.</p>

<p>*Through workstudy, a summer job, and loans, I could cover, at max, 10k a year.</p>

<p>This leaves 10k a year left that I need to come up with.*</p>

<p>You can’t and shouldn’t borrow that much…</p>

<p>The first $10k will get covered with a $5500 loan, and maybe summer work and work during the school year (but what about daily pocket money? kids need SOME pocket money).</p>

<p>This strategy of covering the first $10k will give you about $30k in loans.</p>

<p>However, the second $10k is a big problem. Furthermore, that $10k will be larger in future years, since all costs go up every year.</p>

<p>This strategy of covering the second $10k will leave you with over $70k in loans (total).</p>

<p>this is your other problem…</p>

<p>*My parents can pay maybe 20k a year. If I begged, possibly a little more, but I would consider 25k both a godsend and an absolute ceiling.
*</p>

<p>If your parents are saying that “maybe” they can pay $20k per year, then very likely that means that $20k will be a super stretch and therefore no way will they be paying $25k. In fact, often parents can’t even pay the “maybe” amount. </p>

<p>If you’re the first to go to college, and your parents don’t have much saved for your college costs, then coming up with about an extra $1700 per month for college (which is about $20k per year). If it were easy for them to come up with that much, they probably would have a good sized college savings acct for you.</p>

<p>Ask your parents how much they can see contributing EACH month towards college.</p>

<p>What I see is that you’re going to cover $25k each year…and that isn’t likely.</p>

<p>Private scholarships are often for small amounts and only for freshman year.</p>

<p>Where else did you apply?</p>

<p>What school is your financial safety school?</p>

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<p>I’m at the very least apply to Grinnell, Kenyon, and the state universities. I get (80%?) tuition remission at liberal arts colleges in the GLCA and ACM, so financially I will be more than fine. Perhaps even a full ride if I get either the scholarship from coming from Grinnell, and I believe there is a nice scholarship at Kenyon because my dad is an alum.</p>

<p>What other top tier universities have deep pockets? I know Harvard has something about only paying 10% of your income up to a certain point (200k income?) but of course I would have to get accepted. I’m applying to Yale and Duke but I don’t know how generous they are.</p>

<p>I’d really like to make Chicago work though. It is such a great school.</p>

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<p>Do talk to Chicago. Have you looked at the website to see if there are any scholarships you are eligible for other than what has been currently awarded? Any work study dollars?</p>

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<p>Chicago awards merit scholarships in April, but I don’t believe they will cover the extra 10k a year. Workstudy is also minimum wage usually (I live one block from the Grinnell Campus) and won’t cover much.</p>

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<p>You keep mentioning work study. Were you awarded work study in your financial aid award? WS is need based aid that is subsidized by the government and at most schools, to be eligible to get a WS job, you have to be awarded WS in your FA package. (unless you are talking about something other than federal WS)</p>

16

<p>Did you apply EA or ED to Chicago? Do you need to give them a definitive answer soon? </p>

<p>If you live one block from Grinnell you could live at home and commute? It looks like the tuition, fees and books for Grinnell would be around 37,000. If you family can pay 20K - 25K and you work and take out the maximum Stafford loan you may not have too much more to cover? Perhaps you will also qualify for some grant money to make it more affordable. Are you eligible for any of the Iowa HS student scholarships?</p>

<p>Have you also applied to Iowa state schools?</p>

17

<p>Applicant, you just really need to talk to UChicago. The truth is that you really need another 10K a year (at a minimum!). You won’t find out if you don’t ask. Actually ask for 15K for starters. If you were my kid, I’d do the calling myself. I think that while students doing their own direct contact is best in most circumstances, where financial aid is concerned I think parents are in a better situation to work with the FA office.</p>

<p>If you can’t get anymore out of them, then you just need to shift gears and hold out to see what your options are from other schools. Good luck!</p>

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<p>@KatMT I don’t need to give an answer until like May. It’s nonbinding.</p>

<p>I think I mentioned this in my prior post, but I get like 80% tuition remission to Grinnell and Kenyon because my parents work at Grinnell (or any GLCA or ACM school). I would also get a scholarship to Grinnell, because I live here, or one to Kenyon, because my dad is an alum (at least I would qualify for them and stand a very good shot I think).</p>

<p>Regarding talking to the aid office, what exactly should I be saying? Is it really possible to squeeze another 10-15k out of them? I find this unlikely.</p>

<p>Maybe they could give me an idea of how my EFC is calculated? That might shed some light on things, at least.</p>

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<p>What do they say your EFC is? Also do you have any idea what your parents income range is? Assets are also part of the picture, if your parents own property or other investments.</p>

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<p>They don’t directly say what my EFC is. I know my parent’s income and assets. What should I say exactly in the call?</p>