<p>I was accepted to The University of Chicago EA. This is my dream school. And the only school I want to go to. I am a recruited athlete but they do not offer athletic scholarships. My parents are refusing to help me pay for school. My parents make an average income of 97k and Chicago's crappy fin aid will prolly only give my family 10k (I am still waiting for the estimate but following everyone else's estimates mine cant be too higher) What are some things that I can do to pay for such a high cost? I really do not want my parents going into debt (or me) just because I want to attend such a good and expensive school. What are some things I can tell my parents to encourage them to help me? What other outside sources can I use to help me pay for school (I have done all the scholarship stuff but that only equates to like 2k) Thanks.</p>
<p>Loans. However, as a recruited athlete you might get a bit more aid than that which you have estimated. If you really do not want to go into debt and your parents refuse to help, then apply to your state school or to universities that are willing & able to give you an athletic scholarship. Everyone wants to drive a Lexus, but Ford sells a lot more cars.</p>
<p>If your parents truly won't contribute anything, and you don't get significant aid from Chicago, don't go to UChicago. No school is worth taking out tons of money in loans and going into debt, as that's something that will follow you for your whole life. Look for respectable colleges that will either give you an athletic scholarship or that you're significantly overqualified for, as well as private schools with hefty endowments that you could get merit aid for. Anybody competitive for admission to Chicago is competitive for a full-ride somewhere "lesser," and it may not seem like it now but it's much better to have a "lesser" degree and no burdens than a prestegious degree and 100k in debt.</p>
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The best thing you can do, while you wait to see if the finaid award will actually work for you, is to change that statement.</p>
<p>Start looking into schools which will award merit aid, or better need-based aid (or a combination) and find things about them which excite you. </p>
<p>There is no <em>one</em> school that is right for you. So there should be no "only school I want to go to." That is a counter-productive viewpoint, that we see too much.</p>
<p>I do wish you the best in finding a way to attend U Chicago. But right now you need to put your energies into making that statement more like "it is one of three or four schools that I most want to go to."</p>
<p>Coldwind... while a nice analogy about ford and lexus... it's not exactly accurate based on most news coming out of detroit these days. Better to say, everyone wants to drive a lexus but they sell a lot more camrys. :)</p>
<p>As for the OP.. I would call UChicago financial aid office and see if they can point you to more or other resources.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I will speak to my parents more and wait for the FA. I just really hope it is decent. Thanks. I am applying to state schools (UCLA, Berkley) but Chicago fulfills my needs and wants much more than any UC does. But I know it isn't worth being in debt for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>OP, if you haven't already, have you thought of applying to Columbia as well? there are real similarities between the 2 colleges- both have the core, and both attract similar type of students. Chicago unfortunately has a reputation for really miserly financial aid, so I wouldn't get your hopes up about that changing too much.</p>
<p>Without substantial un-sheltered assets, I'm pretty confident you are off on your numbers. </p>
<p>The way to play this game is to find that financial/admissions safety you would be happy attending FIRST. Not the dream school. Those are easy to find. </p>
<p>In your OP you ruled out your chances of substantial institutional aid, your parents paying or borrowing, or you borrowing, reality probably rules out you paying, and you poo-poohed outside scholarships as (paraphrasing) "been there- done that". What was your question again? Oh , yeah. Where else can I get money to attend Chicago? Nowhere.</p>
<p>Run the collegeboard financial calculators with real numbers provided by tax returns and accurate info from your parents. This is nothing to be haphazard about. This is hard work and only your family can do it (we simply don't have the data). </p>
<p>Good luck, and again....find that financial safety and pronto.</p>
<p>For grins I put in some arbitrary data using the $97,000 annual income, estimated tax hit, only child, parents same age as my W and I, no assets and this is what cb spit out :
Federal Methodology (FM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 18,523
Student's Contribution = $ 0
Total Estimated FM Contribution = $ 18,523</p>
<p>Show Detail
Institutional Methodology (IM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 12,236
Student's Contribution = $ 1,550
Total Estimated IM Contribution = $ 13,786</p>
<p>That jives relatively well with the U of C web link posted above.</p>
<p>Sorry. I'm hopelessly ate up with this stuff. (Think this is bad? I was unbelievably obsessed back in the day. ;)) I went back and kept adding assets incrementally to where I could approximate the OP's estimate of aid ($10K off a COA of @$50K) and I added $20K in cash, $100K home equity, and $400,000 of un-sheltered assets. That gets me close.</p>
<p>Federal Methodology (FM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 38,838
Student's Contribution = $ 0
Total Estimated FM Contribution = $ 38,838</p>
<p>Show Detail
Institutional Methodology (IM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 34,973
Student's Contribution = $ 1,550
Total Estimated IM Contribution = $ 36,523</p>
<p>This, of course, bears no relationship to what the OP's family jewels look like or what the OP's award would be. I just plugged in numbers for my own edification.</p>
<p>So, let me get this straight...you think that your parents can pony up more money if they could be convinced to do so. You don't want them to go into debt to put you through Chicago. You don't want to go into debt to put yourself through Chicago. You are through applying for teeny scholarships.</p>
<p>Two things to think about: go the ROTC route. I know two girls who are doing Navy ROTC--one at Berkeley; one at Univ of San Diego. </p>
<p>Other thing: show parents how much better Univ of Chicago is at helping you achieve your high level goals. Law school acceptance? Medical school acceptance? If you could convince them that you'll be making enough to pay off your debts when you enter this high power career path, and that Chicago can help you achieve the goals better than other schools, then they may be willing to help out more.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, having UCLA and Berkeley as your "backstops" at half the price of Chicago doesn't help your case since they are both fabulous schools.</p>
<p>ellemenope, maybe the OP can re-read The Prince for some ideas on how to handle the 'rents. This is gonna be a tough sell based on the original post.</p>
<p>Agree that it will be a tough sell, especially in these economic times. Without outside $$ to get the cost of Chicago close to the cost of UCLA or Berkeley, it does seem like OP will be swimming against the current.</p>
<p>I have to admit that I haven't read The Prince and only know enough about it to maybe get some Jeopardy answers correct. Would you care to elucidate about how The Prince would help in manipulating parents?</p>
<p>hmom, how high would you like me to bump the home equity up for our Cali friends who make $97K a year? Can I then reduce the $400K in un-sheltered assets? I'll do it and report back.</p>
<p>Here's the results with another $100K in home equity added.
Federal Methodology (FM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 38,838
Student's Contribution = $ 0
Total Estimated FM Contribution = $ 38,838</p>
<p>Show Detail
Institutional Methodology (IM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 39,973
Student's Contribution = $ 1,550
Total Estimated IM Contribution = $ 41,523</p>
<p>Here's $300k in home equity, and $300k in un-sheltered assets (everything else the same).
Federal Methodology (FM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 33,198
Student's Contribution = $ 0
Total Estimated FM Contribution = $ 33,198</p>
<p>Show Detail
Institutional Methodology (IM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 39,973
Student's Contribution = $ 1,550
Total Estimated IM Contribution = $ 41,523</p>
<p>el, I think I read the Marvel comics version of the Prince for the test but I've even forgotten most of that. If he has the hardcover edition he might could bop them on the head with it. ;)</p>
<p>Edit: Or if they are anything like me, he could read a page to them and bore them into submission.</p>