Financial aid delay

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>Has anyone else not yet received their FA package from Chicago? I'm looking anxiously for mine every morning, because it's the one factor that would keep me out of that university. I sent in my 2007/2008 taxes simultaneously but late (about 3 weeks ago), so I'm afraid that may be the problem.</p>

<p>I plan to call the Office of College aid soon, but I don't want to seem impatient. Has everyone who turned in materials perfectly on time gotten their financial aid, or are there other delays? Am I a unique case?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>I have also had a delay in Finaid, more or less due to incompleteness. I suggest you call their office and ask their very nice staff for your Finaid status.</p>

3

<p>Mine hasn’t come either. We emailed the office and they said its still in progress. But they asked for more info on my family’s financial situation so mine might be different.</p>

4

<p>Update–I got my aid package yesterday (and I’m delighted with it!). Finally, the wait (or this part of it) is over.</p>

<p>I hope you all get your aid soon, and I hope it exceeds expectations!</p>

5

<p>Still waiting…</p>

6

<p>Did you get it in the mail? E-mail? On-line?</p>

7

<p>I think the way people receive Finaid is through mail.</p>

8

<p>Yes, I got my aid in the mail. It came the same day as the course catalog. I opened the mailbox (after hours of waiting for delivery time to arrive), saw the catalog and the Office of College Aid’s envelope nearly simultaneously, and immediately thought “Oh, no–please don’t send me your catalogue if I can’t pay for your school.” I came inside hugging the mail, threw it down on the table and stepped back in fear, as though the envelope might bite me and my hopes. Then I opened the envelope, saw the aid packet, read the amount of grant offered to me, realized that there were no loans at all–and proceeded to jump up and down and squeal for five minutes.</p>

<p>My brother, a junior, turned from the Playstation version of Van Helsing long enough to tell me I’m weird.</p>

<p>Since then, I’ve spent a lot of quality time with that catalog, pen in hand and notebook nearby.</p>

<p>But to sum up: the aid arrived. And if anyone else’s hasn’t by now (yuyis, you said yours hasn’t), I think it’d be worth it to call the office. At least hearing whether or not it’s been sent will give you an idea of when to expect it, and they should be able to tell you over the phone what your actual package is. It’s better than watching the mail every day, counting down to May 1.</p>

9

<p>^Just curious… what was your aid and what were your financial stats?</p>

10

<p>I was thinking about posting this, but felt self-conscious. But I know how much each bit of information helped me when I was wondering, so here it is (vaguely):</p>

<p>My parents are divorced. Mom’s income is 30k, dad’s is 70k. I have two younger brothers. Mom’s FAFSA EFC (she was our custodial at the time) was a little under 7k. I think we have very little home equity.</p>

<p>Chicago gave us $34,100 in grant, plus $5,225 more in Odyssey (the maximum). That 5k would have been loans otherwise. They also gave us $2,200 in work study. That’s a total of $41,525.</p>

<p>Since there COA is $55,895 for us (O_O!!), that gives us a difference of $14,370 to fill. I also qualified for the maximum in Fed Stafford loans ($5,500), which will help alleviate that difference. I plan to work hard over the summer.</p>

<p>The thing is, I was expecting much less in grant money from Chigaco (I though I’d be lucky to get $30k), and certainly didn’t expect an Odyssey scholarship. The only thing I can figure is that they only took my mom’s income into account for Odyssey, because as is apparent, their combined incomes (or even my dad’s, which is over $60k, the maximum qualifying for pure grant–$75k is the cutoff for half loans, half grant) don’t qualify for what I got. I feel really, really lucky.</p>

<p>Today, I put together a presentation for my dad, who’s skeptical even of the best aid packages, showing how we can pay this off. I’m very hopeful that he’ll accept it, because Chicago is my favorite university in the world right now. I want to send in that deposit.</p>

11

<p>Our FA packages were nearly exactly the same, WW. I’m so glad I can (mildy) afford it. Now I just have to convince my parents.</p>

12

<p>Well, my aid still hasn’t come in, and I got an e-mail last week from the school claiming that they hadn’t received my CSS Profile (which was sent electronically, odd, huh?), so should I start freaking out NOW? If the deadline is coming up this week, and I get an offer that I can and should refuse, what will I do? It’s not just that I want to be at U of C, it’s also that I don’t want to end up at San Diego State University! </p>

<p>The former is a place where you’ll likely walk in on your roommate reading Marlowe at 3 o’clock in the morning, whereas at SDSU I’m more likely to walk in on my roommate snorting coke lines. This is the same school with one of the largest college drug scene sting operations in recent history.</p>

<p>The office told me today that they found the Profile (hmmm…) and that my application is complete, but how can I find out before May 1st? And if so, can I negotiate the package over the phone? I know the school’s policy is that they won’t match another school’s offer, which I can agree with. However, I’m not fond of getting trapped between the two extremes of running my parents broke or swimming in misery for four years.</p>

13

<p>^You should be freaking out now because that package takes a long time to get to you. It took around a week and a half for me. I think that you are going to have to gamble with your decision to Chicago or play it safe and send a deposit to another school.</p>

14

<p>So I’m playing with fire here.</p>

<ol>
<li>Enroll at SDSU.</li>
<li>Enroll at U of C and pray for favorable aid numbers. Possibly turn toward adult filmmaking.</li>
<li>Defer offer at U of C (if still possible, although this would be painful) for following academic year of 2010-2011</li>
</ol>

<p>Any suggestions would not be nice, but vital instead.</p>

15

<p>Although adult film making sounds pretty appealing, (maybe do it anyway?), you should probably call in and get them to fax your offer, even a rough guide, through, or even read it over the phone. While they don’t normally do this, I hope given the circumstances and the fact that this is their error they’ll make an exception in this case. I sincerely suggest that you don’t defer.
If this doesn’t work out, you’ll need to ask yourself how much a UChicago education is worth for you. You know your finances so you’ll probably be able to figure out a worst -case scenario and if this is feasible for you.
Hope I’ve helped</p>

16

<p>Another suggestion is to call the admissions office at both schools, explain the situation, and ask for an extension for making your decision. A friend of S1 requested a decision extension because of a financial aid question and was granted the extension.</p>

17

<p>EddieBongo: I will ask the office for rough numbers, although I’m getting the impression that they are tired of having students (well, mostly parents) calling in and requesting updates. The director who sent me e-mails on missing information seems to have gone into hiding. Can’t blame her or the rest of them.</p>

<p>idad: I really don’t plan on going to SDSU now that I visited Chicago. I will ask my counselor for an extension. Since I’m expecting that not to happen because I’m not special, I’m still trying to comprehend why I wasn’t informed sooner of my “missing” Profile.</p>

<p>Thanks to you both for your advice! If anyone had a similar situation to mine, I would like to hear about how you handled it.</p>