Do students in poverty/homeless typically receive more financial aid from schools?

[sybbie719]

<p>Op being homeless at 24 years old is not going to do anything to help his cause (being homeless at 24 is not the same as being homeless as a 17 year old high school student).</p>

<p>I think part of the challenge was that when student was an undergrad at Chicago, either parents could not afford to or refused to pay their portion of the EFC, considering that UChicago meets 100% demonstrated need (as they see it) in addition to providing merit $$.</p>

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@UC

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<p>In total, UChicago pledges to meet 100% of demonstrated need for every undergraduate on campus.</p>

<p><a href=“https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/affording_education.shtml[/url][/quote]”>https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/affording_education.shtml

</a></p>

<p>op stated:</p>

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I went to University of Chicago out of high school, and the total bill was around $60k. The school gave me about half for free, but the rest was out of loans that I think was offered directly by the school (maybe through a third-party bank?). In any case, I didn’t want to burden my parents so I dropped out to pay off the loans and decided that college wasn’t worth it. I’m 24 years old now, so I’ve been out of school for about 7 years.

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<p>Op must remember that his parents are first in line to pay for his education. His parents most likely had to take loans in order to meet their EFC for Op to attend chicago and probably refused to take on the debt. </p>

<p>In OP’s case, being homeless may not necessarily help his cause as getting need based aid as an independent student. His/her challenge is going to be able to prove 5 years of self sufficiency at schools that do provide institutional funds to independent students (many schools will require that the independent student be 26/27 years old)</p>