I was accepted to UChicago as an early action applicant, but I was denied for any financial aid; I would greatly appreciate any advice in drafting an appeal (what is viewed as more significant determining factors).
Thank you!
Do you have financial considerations you think they were not aware of? Say serious illness in the family that creates large medical bills, disabled siblings, etc.? What is your family’s financial situation? Just because your family would prefer not to pay, if a college believes your parents have the income and/or assets to do so, they will not give you any or much need based aid. But if there is key information like that, bring it to the attention of the FA office and ask for a review of your financial aid.
You might try running the net price calculator for U of C to see what it shows. If it shows you likely WOULD get aid, you could ask them to please review your FA in light of that. But note that generally NPCs aren’t very accurate if your parents own a small business, rental real estate, have trusts, or are divorced (they will show more aid than you will probably actually be awarded).
Thank you for the reply!
There are considerations (rapid increase in income) that aren’t reflected on the forms; some assets are not liquid (property for retirement). The price calculator shows some aid.
My family is very supportive and willing to contribute, but the maximum viable is about half of Chicago’s tuition–a pretty significant reversal in aid, unfortunately. Aside from a well-crafted letter and supporting documents, is there anything else I can do?
Well… I kind of doubt those are going to help. “Property for retirement” is not a class of asset that colleges generally consider protected like they would a 401K. And recent rapid increase in income is just sort of bad luck in the college FA game, colleges don’t usually increase aid just because that is the situation. But you can make the request. Include a copy of your NPC results with the request.
Have you applied to other schools that are likely to be more affordable? I know it is hard to turn down a school like U of C, but you have to realize that odds aren’t very good that you will get a significant increase in aid. And most other top colleges will treat your family’s assets and income the same way. Do you have a true financial safety?
I do have (in-state) schools that are much more affordable.
Thank you very much for help–I will cross my fingers for Chicago 
.
If you get financial aid offers from other UChicago peer schools that are better than UChicgo, run them by the UChicago FA office. Point out to them that you want to attend, but the cost differential is too great to attend. The drawback to this strategy is that you have to wait for competing FA offers which will be a couple months. Good luck to you.
Have you got any merit-based scholarships from Chicago?
If you are a NMF you can get 4K/year.
It also gives away up to 10K (?) per year to about 15% students, last time I heard.
Kaukana,
As far as aid is concerned, what schools are considered ‘peer schools’?
I have applied to Dartmouth and Harvard (though, with regular decision acceptance rates I am not holding my breath) and UVa, which would not require any aid for me to attend.
Thank you!
Dartmouth and Harvard would definitely be “peers”, as would any of the Ivies. The list of peer schools would include pretty much any of the top 20 US News National Universities plus most the top 20 National Liberal Arts colleges.
Does the student have to apply for the merit aid,? When will they make an announcement ?
There is no application. The awards are made on a rolling basis. They come in $5K increments: $5K to $15K. Confirm my answers by contacting the F.A. dept. Best of luck to you.
@kaukauna
Thank you. I will email the FA dept.
I did not receive any financial aid; I did receive merit aid, although it is not enough to realistically attend. I am (likely) heading to my state university next year 
My kid got her merit aid information the same day as her EA acceptance 2 years ago. Although I think I have heard of students getting merit notification a bit later.
I’m waiting to hear back about an appeal for FA, but yesterday I was notified that Chicago decided to give me 10k in merit aid. I think I read somewhere merit aid is released up until the end of April.
I still have a larger sum of merit aid from other schools’ honors colleges, so I’m hoping our appeal works.