I don’t know. It might be a bit different, but strange that you only came up with $4,000. Do both your parents work? Did you have a sibling in college?
With EA for most (if not all)private schools, you aren’t allowed to apply to another private, so I’m not sure you could apply to Howard (a private college) if you do EA?
@ZBlue17 UChicago’s FAQ says Early Action is open and non-binding.
Ea : you can apply wherever you want.
Rea: you can only apply to public universities at the same time (but of course once the decision is announced you can apply qherever else you wish)