<p>This may be worth mentioning:</p>
<p>My EFC as calculated by the FAFSA is $1793.</p>
<p>How much could you make for work study? I can get 2100 work study during the school year, then hopefully another 2100 working during the summer. Then I will take 5k loans each year. Could you do the same?</p>
<p>edit- just saw the cornell thread. you have to pay 8k, plus take out other loans on top of it?</p>
<p>No, the 8K is what I will be needing to borrow to cover UChicago completely. I got 45.5K in loan-free grants and the rest is on me.</p>
<p>Dude, 32k out of UChicago undergrad shouldn't be unrealistic. Most people dont get 45k in grants.</p>
<p>Well, when I consider that I can go to UNC Chapel Hill for 5-8K in total debt, 32K isn't all that friendly.</p>
<p>You somehow expected your FA from a private research university and your state school to end up equal?</p>
<p>No, beefs, but I didn't expect it to run $8K a year.</p>
<p>$45k+ in grants from UChicago is unusally generous, based on what I'm seeing from other posters. $8k/yr. out of your pocket, assuming your parents contribute nothing, is not bad at all. $3500 first year in Stafford loan. Did you get a Perkins? Those loans are even cheaper than Staffords. Did you get work-study? Even if not, you can get term-time employment at 10 hrs./wk. to help w/expenses. Add in summer employment and your loan burden is not bad at all -- you could get away with just Stafford, which would be $19k total for undergrad. Many, many students have that amount of debt (mine will!). This is doable if you want it, buddy.</p>
<p>Yea seriously, either you have no idea what certain people go through to get suitable financial aid, or you're being extra selfish.</p>
<p>If you could stop attacking me, that'd be good. Thanks. ;)</p>
<p>Point being, I know little about financial aid, and my parent knows even less, so most to all of this is new to me. I wouldn't call myself selfish, beefs, I'm just being cautious.</p>
<p>Yea, I (not parents) am definitely paying more out of pocket than 8k a year.. if only hehe.</p>
<p>But, yea, it is a decision you have to sit down and think for a while about. It's definitely not as easy as some make it out to be, but there are people in worse situations so it's not the end of the world either. Really, you just have to weigh the pros and cons and see if Chicago's education is worth the 25k extra dollars. If you're going to go into a field where you're going to make a lot of money, I'd say most definitely. If not, then yea it takes a bit more thought and research.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision :)</p>
<p>Wow, you are basically got a 'free ride' (tuition free) and some +. In our state flagship the 'free ride' is tuition free plus a laptop. Which require a SAT 2300+ to auto qualify. ... Think this way, even you don't go college, you still need to pay your own room and boarding. With $45k+ they'd pay almost half of your living expanse. I would say in your situation, they are extremly generous.</p>
<p>Also consider that the $53k is their estimate. I'm sure the $18k for books and living expenses can be managed better and you could be spending a lot less (then again they have a great Economics department so they may know very well what they are talking about).</p>
<p>My point is that they expect you to work and take loans, which is the 8k. With a small loan annually, and work-study, and summer employment, thats very manageable.</p>
<p>Beefs: So people aren't allowed to be sympathetic to the plight of others while still wishing that schools made it easier to pay for college? I must have missed that memo; it probably came with the memo about how we were going to all start making ridiculous assumptions from now on.</p>