<p>That's kind of neat! Are there really few of us here?</p>
<p>Yeah. The class of 2012 at Chicago is only 6% from New England....there are more people from outside the US (11%) than from New England in it, and those stats hold true for basically all their classes, I think. I know that at least at my school, no one knows much about Chicago; everyone who is a high-flier is very Ivy-focused, or focused on small LACs (Williams, Amherst, etc.)</p>
<p>I am happy for you Miles. Your fin aid story gives me hope. I am still waiting for my package (I was a lil late on sending everything and the lady said I should receive it a week after everyone else) I am almost exactly the same story as you except only my dad runs his own business but it is new and has been in the negative for the past 2 years. Our family has assets under 10k and no college trust or plan or whatever. And we will have 2 full time college students. So I am hoping for the best!</p>
<p>has anyone gotten higher than 39,000 from Chicago grants? so far that seems to be the highest.</p>
<p>Machiavelli--glad my story could give you hope! If it helps to make you feel even better, I got all that money despite the fact that I am an only child; I have no siblings at all, never mind any other siblings currently in college. :>) Like I said above, my family is pretty average-ly middle class; we're not wealthy, but we're not poor, either, and basically everyone goes to college, and some decent ones at that, and becomes moderately successful in various things. I definitely don't have any socio-economic hooks in any way (middle-class, white--and Puritan/Yankee old school white at that--and female).</p>
<p>I am really worried about fin aid. I have been stressing ever since I got accepted. It was like the stress before was getting accepted and now the stress is fin aid. I have heard only a few good fin aid stories from Chicago and most of them were from low income (10-60k) families so it is such a relief to hear your story. Is Chicago your number 1?</p>
<p>Chicago is definitely my number 1. My mom was like "You deserve to go there, so we'll make it happen even if you get bad financial aid," but she was so glad to hear that it wasn't bad FA at all; it was in fact much more than we were expecting. This story of Chicago stress (we had the same FA stress coming up to this, immediately after I got the acceptance!!) definitely has a happy ending.</p>
<p>Interesting note: has your family done any EFC calculators? My mom did several, and the average EFC for us was about 15k, exactly what Chicago calculated. I think they're good about meeting EFC; it's just the loans/grant mix that you have to watch. I was so fortunate to get a ton of grants and very few (paltry, even) loans, and I'm not sure why it came out that way; I personally have basically no assets at all, but I think the same is true for most incoming college students, so I'm not sure why I would get so few loans but others get so many more. I don't know if the amount of grants you get in any way reflects their desire to have you (my state sends very few people to Chicago, so that is, in many ways, a hook for me).</p>
<p>My parents don't really care about my college whatsoever. So, I have been doing those EFC calculators over and over again. And most of them are 9k. The collegeboard using both FM and IM is 9k. CC calc is 10k. And FinAid is 9k as well. I am actually a recruited athlete for both Chicago and Brown and back in Sept when I was deciding whether or not I wanted to apply ED to Brown, I submitted a few forms and I got a early fin read and my efc on Browns estimate was 9k. I actually sent that paper to Chicago. I am like you in that I have 0 all across the board for student assets and such. You would be suprised the amount of students who have trusts and tuition funds.</p>
<p>My family has none of those like lurking fin variables (million dollar property, crazy home equity, hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets) So I am hoping for some along your lines. I am from CA so we are usually over represented but I am pretty sure that does not affect your fin aid package but idk. I was the number 1 male track and field recruit for Chicago but I doubt that is gonna help me with a fin aid package. Thanks for all of the info!</p>
<p>got a great aid packet today:</p>
<p>$0</p>
<p>but on the bright side, I am eligible for the $5,500 Stafford Loan. yay.</p>
<p>Wow, track and field recruited...that's way impressive, Machiavelli. Nice! :>)</p>
<p>Hope your FA package brings good news!</p>
<p>I got $40,050 in grant money, and my family's income is around $45,000. I'm pretty happy, but I can't fully commit to Chicago until I see other school's aid offers.</p>
<p>wow mUser..you lucky dog...lol. my family income's lower than yours, no significant assets or anything else, and I did not get 40,050. haha, and it's kinda random that stuck that $50 in your $40,050. congrats!</p>
<p>who, like I, hasn't gotten his/her package yet?</p>
<p>yummycheese. . .sorry to hear you didn't get as much money as you wanted. I think you still have Odyssey scholarships to hope for. To my understanding, if you make under $60,000 they'll replace your loan expectations with grant money. . .not entirely sure about that though. </p>
<p>Also, I did the whole questbridge thing. . .I don't know if that had any significant bearing on my aid offer.</p>
<p>newyork09, I'm also still waiting for my estimate.</p>
<p>Although, judging by the dismal aid packages, I'm not sure I should even bother waiting anymore. >_> I'm expecting little to no financial aid.</p>
<p>mUser, i was a QuestBridge finalist...so i dunno. What is the Odyessey scholarship?</p>
<p>Hey I'm a New Englander! Massachusetts :)</p>
<p>Oh man. This thread at least preps me for the envelope that I'm hoping to get sometime next week. Dunno what to expect...maybe I'll do the calculator thing. Not sure if my parents did it yet. </p>
<p>Also, merit scholarships for UChicago get announced with the RD round, right? So technically there's still hope if I get a semi-crappy package?</p>
<p>does anyone have the link to chicago's merit scholarships info? and btw, is it too late to do them?</p>
<p>yummycheese. . .here you go, copied and pasted from chicago's website</p>
<p>Odyssey Scholarships
Due to an extremely generous gift of $100 million from an anonymous alumnus, we are now able to offer an even more competitive financial aid package to many of our students. For students with family incomes below $60,000 a year, all of their student loan expectation will be replaced with Odyssey Scholarships. For students with family incomes between $60,000 and $75,000, half of their student loan expectation will be replaced with Odyssey Scholarships.</p>
<p>In the packet that came with the fin. aid estimate, it says that odyssey scholarships will be factored in after we send in fafsa</p>
<p>oh! mUser thanks so much! other than the fafsa, is there some merit aid application form we have to fill out to qualify? thx again!</p>