I know that UChicago is genrous when giving financial aid to international students since there’s an anonymous donor who donates significant amount of money to the university. Also they say that they are expanding their financial resources for internationals. Last year there was a couple of students from my school who got in with full rides. But considering the circumstances now, do you think UC will be open for financial aid this year for international students? Do they openly say that COVID affected their financial resources?
It is a general assumption that financial aid is going to be tighter due to the COVID19 situation. However, I don’t think very many people are going to know the particulars of any particular school. University of Chicago was not need blind in admissions to undergraduates even before all of this, and there is no telling how that affected and will affect current international applicants that need financial aid to attend. They do meet full need As they define it to all they admit, and are highly likely to continue to do so. It makes no sense to gap an international student because such students cannot get a student visa if they do not specifically show how they are going to finance their stay in the US and pay for school.
If the University of Chicago has openly said this, a simple Google search will find the announcement.
Yes, they have so said. https://d3qi0qp55mx5f5.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/budgetoffice/uploads/docs/Provost_Lee_April_3_memo.pdf?mtime=1586850990
^^^
Your link doesn’t work.
https://budgetoffice.uchicago.edu/impact-of-covid-19/
The Provost letter is linked on that page.
Where is it written in the letter? There is no mention of the financial aid given to undergraduates. It’s just a list of new policies…
It‘s the last of the main links. Letter from the Provost. I tried to directly take you there but that link doesn’t work so you have to link to it from that page.
Really, most all schools are hit hard financially.
Thank you for your help. But where is it written in the letter? There is no mention of the financial aid given to undergraduates. It’s just a list of new policies.
Although OP’s question asks about “financial resources” in general, I think it’s clear that the specific concern is financial aid for international students. The provost’s letter says little about financial aid, other than “We will do everything possible to maintain financial support for our students and academics and protect our core programs and operations.” The letter primarily concerns HR and payroll policies and other operational matters, not student financial aid.
The economy continues to struggle here, and it will be for a while. Chicago’s economy, like that of many places, is on its knees. Covid has affected the resources of every college in the country, including UC. It is believed that full pay students may have a larger than usual advantage this application season, but that does not in any way mean that no scholarships will be given out. Plenty of kids have begun to apply, even amidst all the uncertainty.
Application deadlines are coming up quickly (ED in just a couple weeks) and the rest within a couple months. It is unlikely you’re going to hear any more information or details beyond what the posters here have told you before the deadlines hit. Submit an application, but have a backup plan. Everyone is living with a lot of uncertainty these days. The only way to know if you’ll get a scholarship is to apply and see what they decide.
To be clear, UChicago is, indeed, need-blind to domestic applicants - has been and will continue to be. That comes with the usual caveats, of course but that won’t be impacted by the pandemic. I know that CptHouse meant “international only” in comment #1 but wanted to clarify this for others who read.
For all communications from the university regarding Covid, including financial impacts, please see the Announcements section of the Go Forward UChicago website: https://goforward.uchicago.edu/
OP is probably referring to the Odyssey program, and that’s been prioritized by the administration for minimum impact. Wouldn’t expect much if any changes to occur there. As international admission is need-aware to begin with, there’s no reason to expect their criteria to change. So OP can probably rest easy, even if thinking about ED. In general, it appears that the university has been pretty generous to those on FA, especially those living off campus (which tends to be less expensive than res. halls). Usually the FA office will reduce aid to account for off-campus; this year, they kept it the same. That’s an extra $5k subsidy for the off-campus students, even those at home with parents. And of course they didn’t raise tuition and housing fees this year. That might change next year, of course.
Here are the FAQ’s about financial aid for this fall; maybe there are some tidbits for the future: https://financialaid.uchicago.edu/covid-19-faq
Also, check out the FA portion of the College FAQ’s from the Go Forward website: https://college.uchicago.edu/2020-college/autumn-2020-faqs
Unless a person is privy to the internal decisions on specific cuts, it’s not likely anyone can give accurate information on how much a specific program is going to be defunded. You can ask specifically, but these days things change even more quickly than they did early this year. We are in an unkind situation.
IMO, the question is whether there will be fewer international students admitted to University of Chicago this year because of less money to fund them. UC has committed to remaining need blind in admissions to US applicants , and meeting full need as the school determines. Whether they have changed anything in their need formula, I do not know. Possible. FAFSA has made at least two changes in their formula, I notice. With schools own formulas, it’s nearly impossible to detect changes, as they tend to keep this information private.
As I mentioned before, offering an international student admissions if they cannot immediately show how they are going to pay for the UC college experience is a useless offer because these students have to come up with this info to get their student visa. They can’t just make it up as they go as US students may be able to do. They have to have that info up front.
Getting exact info is not possible, it’s an ever changing situation , and just a simple yes or no as to whether any given school is going to be cutting is useless info without knowing how much the cut is and how/where. Full rides were exceedingly rare even before all of this. I’m surprised to read that your high school has had any number kids with full rides from University of Chicago. There aren’t that many full rides. Possible that the anonymous donor has own stipulations on scholarship money used donated and that may be more relevant than cuts to UC’s own money situation. Maybe that donor is from your country, area, school. Too many unknowns here to give you definitive answers. Perhaps local detective work on your part can come up with more answers.
Agree with this. One quick and easy change Chicago could make is requiring NCP financial info which they don’t currently require.
Currently, This makes them an attractive school for students in a bad NCP situation, but is outside the norm of other selective schools, with the exception of Vandy.
- As mentioned above, OP is likely referring to the ongoing Odyssey scholarship program and its international component launched just last year. So that other posters so helpfully dispensing advice can be properly informed, here are a couple of useful links:
https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/cost-aid/scholarships/odyssey-scholarships
- Highly doubtful that the percentage of international admitted would differ from prior years, except perhaps to increase given the additional financial funding available. This past summer was particularly difficult for incoming international students for several reasons (not just financial) but the College was able to step up and accommodate them anyway. No reason to expect them to pull back going forward.
- OP might find that reaching out to the Admissions office will provide more insight to the specifics of this year than asking advice on College Confidential from people who aren't informed about the College's initiatives. UChicago's been a moving target in some of these areas for the past few years and tends not to conform to some of the more generic speculations (which are likely based on what other institutions are doing).
- UChicago won't be requiring NCP financial information because to do so restricts opportunity for some incoming students requiring aid, including those who are eligible for need-based aid under some of the school's newer initiatives (Empower, UChicago Promise, UChicago Stand Together, etc). "Outside the norm of other selective schools" would be a consequence of specific choices, not a guiding principle for them.