Financial Aid and Merit Scholarships

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

Recently asked this in another thread but…

UChicago is my first-choice school, and I was fortunate enough to be admitted to the Class of 2019!! But I have a couple of questions. Does UChicago match financial aid offers from other schools (specifically the Ivy League schools) if they are better? I’m curious because UChicago is my favorite school and I really want to go, but if the financial aid isn’t comparable to other schools’ aid packages I won’t be able to attend. Also, are the National Merit Scholars/Achievement Scholars/Hispanic Scholars scholarship recipients still being determined? Do these scholarships replace financial assistance or do they replace student work/family contribution? For example, if my family contribution were $30k and I were awarded the National Merit scholarship of $4k, would my family contribution decrease to $26k? Or would it be used to offset the student-work contribution?

2

I think you’d better to call financial aid office. Whatever answer you get here may not apply to you in your case.

3

UChicagoLuvr - I generally agree with artloversplus except there are a couple of items that the FA office could not tell you that I would like to mention. I believe the FA office would be receptive to other offers from peer schools. Certainly if, say Penn or Columbia offerred you $30 K / year and Chicago’s so far is $22 K, I would certainly contact the FA office with that information. Second, I believe UChicago “stacks” awards. That is, if you ultimately get the NMS, then it will be added to grant aid previously determined. I do believe, however, that it would replace the work study job. This was my personal experience.

Having written the above, I agree with the message above that the only definitive answers you will get are from the FA office.