<p>In the financial aid booklet, it says that outside scholarships "cannot be used to replace the parents' contribution or any other expected family resource." And it calls self-help "the combination of summer and term-time earnings and student loans."</p>
<p>I was offerred a $2000 grant and several federal loans.</p>
<p>My parents were "expected" to pay over $45,000, which they cannot do. Instead, they'll be taking out $10,000/year in loans for me. I will be covering the rest with private loans.</p>
<p>So now I am looking for scholarships, and I am wondering if my outside scholarships will ever be able to actually cover the $35,000 that my parents cannot pay since that is their "expected" family contribution. The loan has my name on it, so will U of C see it as a student loan and consider it self-help? Or do I have to pay for my university grant before I can start to reduce that amount with scholarships? Or can I never reduce that amount with scholarships at all?</p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>You might get better results in the financial aid forum. You might also get plenty of advice about taking out that much in loans.</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, Chicago reduces federal loans first–which seems to affect one’s eligibility for subsidized loans, btw–then self-help/student contribution/work-study, then University grant, and only then parent contribution. No, private loans in your name don’t count as self-help, only what Chicago has alloted as expected student contribution.</p>
<p>$35k in loans per year, really?</p>
<p>Is it really worth it to go at such a high cost?
If that were my case I would’ve gone to a state school.</p>
<p>I really don’t want to go into the whole situation, so please do not judge my decision.</p>
<p>Thank you, haavain, for letting me know. My private loan has a lower interest rate than the federal loans (though it is variable), so I’m not terribly upset about having to eliminate those before my private loan. I just wanted to make sure that I could, in fact, eliminate my private loans.</p>