The wait is finally over and I’m pleased to report that UChicago’s net price calculator underestimated my son’s actual 2nd year FA package. We’ll be actually paying $525 less than the NPC estimated which was a nice surprise.
Helpful info! Thanks for sharing!
I was just poking around with my D on her portal. She received a substantial scholarship and it appears in her account. However, she was also given the option to accept or decline a summer work expectation $2000 award and a school year work study $3000 award. We didn’t receive need based FA, and we don’t understand why these options appear in her account. Why would they offer her a $2000 summer employment “award” with wording that says students are expected to contribute to the cost of their education???
@PepperJo, because you applied for FA they look at eligibility. While your daughter didn’t receive a need-based GRANT, it appears that she is eligible at least for work-study (which is a form of need-based aid). Accepting that makes sense. She’s not obligated to work but should she choose to, her work-study earnings won’t go into fin. aid. calculations in a future year. The summer “award” is listed because it’s considered a source of funds for some who have applied for fin. aid. Perhaps it automatically kicked in so that her full demonstrated need is met w/o (additional) parental contribution or loans. My daughter had the same but my son didn’t. I assumed that had to do with my daughter having worked part time (and so had W2’s submitted with her fin. aid. materials); my son, on the other hand, didn’t get a part time job till after fiscal 2017 (the prior-prior year for any 2019-20 aid application). You might call them and ask. But it’s not something your daughter is required to “accept.” My understanding from FA is that they only care about accepting or declining loans. In fact, my D’s grants and work study this year were already “accepted” for her when she logged in to view her award the other day.
More information here: https://financialaid.uchicago.edu/undergraduatetypes-aid/federal-work-study-and-employment
and here:
https://financialaid.uchicago.edu/files/documents/2019-2020-uchicago-college-aid-handbook-students-families.pdf
This is “no brainer” as they say, accept the FA offer of work study, it will make finding a job almost effortless, although its really not that hard anyway.