<p>Just got email from Chicago saying they have a program, "No Barriers," which provides at least the following advantages:
1. No fee to submit an admission application, for families that apply for financial aid. This may be a cynical way to pump up their application numbers, but hey - from our point of view, free is free, right?
2. No longer require CSS Profile, only FAFSA and a UChicago questionnaire.
3. Do not require non-custodial parent info. You can submit your custodial parent info OR the parent who provides the majority of your support. (If the parent you use is remarried, you must also provide your stepparent's info, just like on FAFSA.)
4. NO LOAN policy.
5. A metric buttload of scholarship and grant funds.</p>
<p>Is this new? Has anyone taken advantage of this? Has Chicago officially entered the realm of Reasonable Chance of Being Affordable?</p>
<p>Well… For FAFSA purposes, one must submit the info from the custodial parent who is the one with whom the student resides the most in the 12 months prior to filing the FAFSA. Smart families make sure that is the parent with the least income. There is nothing wrong with doing this in the case of divorced families.</p>
<p>Since this program requires the FAFSA only, it makes sense to make the lower income parent the custodial parent. </p>
<p>Wow… this could have brought the cost down a TON for us a couple of years ago (I am custodial parent, ex-H is remarried, and my business had a pretty crappy year in the baseline year). </p>
<p>Went to <a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator; , put in a student from a low income family ($20,000 parental income + $3,000 EITC) and got a net price of $5 (five dollars).</p>
<p>
Estimated Cost of Attendance
Tuition & Fees $48,252
Room & Board $14,205
Books & Supplies $ 1,800
Transportation $ 0
Personal Expenses $ 2,178
Estimated Total COA $66,435</p>
<p>Estimated Grant/Gift Aid
Estimated Pell Grant $ 5,730
UChicago Grant $55,000
Odyssey Scholarship $ 5,700
Estimated Total Aid $66,430</p>
<p>Estimated Net Price $ 5</p>
<p>Estimated Total Self Help $ 0</p>
<p>Estimated Remaining Cost $ 5
<p>They have taken financial aid to a new level. Not only are there no loans, there’s no student contribution from summer work or work study (other than $5 and travel expenses). I see that they’re raising funds for the Odyssey Scholarship and it’s unclear whether everything is covered for all four years, or if students are expected to contribute after the first year. The OS provides an internship with a $4000 stipend for the summer after freshman year, so I’m assuming that students will use this towards some expenses. Incredible program.</p>
<p>I’m still unclear. What is the income threshold for this new initiative? Is it low income students? Family earners up to $180,000 like at HYS? The initiatives being expanded are for low income students…not all students.</p>
<p>Just because a school does not use PROFILE does not necessarily make it easier. IF there is a supplemental form, it could cover a lot of things PROFLIE would have, and many students who apply to UC are applying to PROFILE schools so they have to fill it out anyways. Now they have to fill out FAFSA, PROFILE AND the supplemental info form for UC.</p>
<p>It’s really the formula that’s going to be bottom line for fin aid hopefuls. Right now (or as of last year, haven’t checked this year), UCh had an onerous required student contibution requirement. If any student were so unlucky to have student assets in name instead of reimbursing parents for expenses and having said assets in parents name instead, were not only hit up a certain percent (20% I believe, maybe more) towards student expected contribution, but that balance was carried forward for the next 3 years and added to any other student assets then whether those amounts were spent or not, according to a formula. So if a student had $10K in savings and reported it on the onset, and spent it all that year, even though the formula says, say $2000 was put towards student EFC and had NOTHING in assets the next year, UC would still take a percentage carry forward, whether there or not, and use it towards expected contiribution. I don’t know another school that does that and it does not show up on NPC since the implications of student assets show up in subsequent years and the NPC only gives you the one year impact. </p>
<p>I have no idea what other hidden twists are in their need formulas or any schools’ for that matter, but I happen to know this about UC. </p>
<p>“Starting this fall, the University of Chicago will no longer require an application fee from any family seeking financial aid. No Barriers also will no longer require the use of the CSS Financial Aid Profile, eliminating fees attached to that form and removing complicated paperwork.”</p>
<p>“Families who have already completed the College Board’s CSS-Profile may submit this instead of the UChicago Financial Aid Worksheet. Please note that only one (not both) of these documents is necessary to submit, that both contain all of the information that we need to fully evaluate students for our institutional financial aid, and that UChicago’s Financial Aid Worksheet is free to submit while the CSS Profile requires a submission fee.”</p>
<p>“Non-Custodial or Divorced Parent Information
We do not require additional information from students’ non-custodial parent. In cases where students’ parents are divorced or separated, provide financial information from the parent who has primary custody of or contributes more than 50% of the student’s financial support.”</p>
<p>@Thumper1 UofC states that families qualifying for the OS usually have incomes under 90K. I read a bit more, and work study is not needed as the students are guaranteed internships each summer with a minimum of 4K. I’m not at all opposed to work study as it’s a way for students to earn money to contribute to their education, but in practice I’ve seen that it can be burdensome for some students in light of their academic load. It would be great to see other colleges adopt similar programs.<br> @cptofthehouse hopefully they’ve revised that policy regarding student assets.</p>
<p>That will probably all need clarifying. Saying that all a person has to do is “apply for aid” may be misleading. If someone isn’t low income or is full-pay, but submits FAFSA, why would they get to apply for free.</p>
<p>Also…students apply in the FALL, but they don’t submit FAFSA til after Jan 1…so how would a free app even get handled at all?</p>