<p>I know a lot about the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but when someone at my school asked me about their Financial Aid program, I was pretty much clueless. I really don't know much about it. How is UIUC for financial aid. Do they shell out quite a bit of money to kids who need it or what?</p>
<p>Thanks, </p>
<p>Jerod</p>
<p>Not that great. If you can get 80% of need met (Total cost - FAFSA EFC) you are doing well from there. However, that is not unusual for state colleges.</p>
<p>What if you come from an upper-middle class family, but your parents just don't want to pay for all of it, like for room/board or whatever, what would your advice be ?</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Jerod</p>
<p>That is a serious problem. Financial aid based on need is at most the amount by which total costs exceed the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) and EFC is based on parents expected contribution not their desired contribution. "Upper-middle class" indicates the risk that there may not be any need and EFC might equal the total cost. That parents refuse to contribute is not a consideration in determining need-based aid. The university and th various departments have some merit scholarships, but most are small amounts (a couple thousand a year) with a handful of full academic scholarships but for those full ones you need to be the best of the best and even for the small ones you have to have a high GPA and test score. The remaining option is work.</p>
<p>The good news is that the tuition is much lower than most of your other alternatives, especially if you are choosing to live a way from school. So your cost/quality ratio is going to be great and the amount gapped is going to be less than if you had picked a top priced school, most likely unless such school gives you an incredible package or you get some merit awards.</p>
<p>You may be able to borrow the discrepancy or get some sort of job to pay the difference. Working is really a catch 22, because about half of what you make ends up being counted towards next year's expenses unless you can get work study.</p>
<p>A friend of mine asked to estimate the maximum amount of money that a person's parents can make to receive grants from Illinois? Anyone have any idea.</p>
<p>Jerod</p>
<p>When you fill out and submit FAFSA, you get back an assessment that provides Estimated Family Contribution, which is the amount your family (parents and you) are expected to contribute to the annual cost of college. UIUC follows that EFC to determine aid. If it is higher than the usuall annual cost (about $18,000 for tuition, room and board, fees and books), you are not going to get any need based financial aid. If it is below the total cost, you willl qualify for some amount, although UIUC does not guarantee to meet 100% of need (calculated by subtracting EFC from total cost) and are more likely to get in the 50% to 80% range at UIUC. Moreover, the aid you will get is not neceesarily grants but more likely to be some combination of grants and loans and possibly work study.</p>
<p>Without doing the FAFSA, you can get a decent estimated EFC by going to some of the EFC calculators available on the web. Just do a Google search for "EFC calculator" and you will find several sites.</p>
<p>When is the FAFSA due by ?</p>
<p>Usually no later than March 15 for UIUC (note, many other schools require it earlier). Materials you receive in admission package should provide actual date for 2005.</p>