Is Chicago actually affordable?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I am currently deciding between Chicago and Berkeley. I will be visiting both schools before May 1, but I am having an inner dilemma that I would like some input on.</p>

<p>I was offerred very little aid at both Chicago and Berkeley. Chicago's cost of attendance is 58 thousand, and Berkeley's is 53 thousand. Five thousand dollars a year is not enough to sway my decision, though. However, I have some family in San Fransisco, about a half hour from the school. They've offerred to let me use their tiny spare bedroom if I need it during my college years, and my parents want me to work on getting California residency if I go to Berkeley. Given the circumstances, do you think achieving residency is likely for me? Is it worth giving up UChicago even though I can't guarantee that I'll quickly get my residency and, along with it, a huge tuition reduction? I feel like Chicago is the right place for me, but I don't even understand how anyone can afford it!</p>

<p>Any advice?</p>

<p>(For reference, I was offerred the same federal loans at both schools, covering almost ten thousand dollars per year. UChicago also offerred me a $2000 grant, and my parents will be paying $10,000/year in addition.)</p>

2

<p>The possibility of gaining California residency for a typical undergraduate student is very slim. Your parents cannot claim you on their income tax for the two years prior to you petitioning for in-state residency (so the earliest you can petition would be your junior year) and you must show that your annual income is sufficient to support yourself both for those 2 years and the year you are petitioning the change in residence for (not student loans, grants, etc). </p>

<p>[Legal</a> Residence Information - Office Of The Registrar](<a href=“http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Default.aspx?PageID=legalinfo.html]Legal”>http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Default.aspx?PageID=legalinfo.html)</p>

<p>From Berkeley’s website – </p>

<p>“NONRESIDENT UNDERGRADUATES: The process of obtaining California residency for tuition purposes is extremely difficult for undergraduates with nonresident parents (this includes transfer students from community colleges and other post-secondary institutions within California). Virtually all nonresident undergraduates with nonresident parents remain nonresidents for the duration of their undergraduate career at the University.”</p>

3

<p>insomniac159: My friend was in the same shoes as you last year. UCLA refused to charge him as an in-state resident even if he ultimately receives California residency because his parents are not California residents themselves. In order to receive in-state tuition, both the student and his parents must be California residents. That was the answer he got after talking to the financial aid department. Therefore, he had to pay the full price tag. He ultimately decided not to attend UCLA and ended up at an in-state university.</p>

4

<p>Also, are your sure that the commute is really only half an hour? I live in SF, and there are very, very few places where it would only take 30 minutes to get to Cal if you’re take BART…and even so, you’d have to be very lucky. It might be possible, but check that commute time to be sure. I suspect it could be longer than one might assume.</p>

5

<p>On top of everything mentioned by you and others, consider this.</p>

<p>My husband’s company’s HQ is in Silicon Valley. During last business trip out there, he ended up having lunch/dinner with his colleagues with kids at Berkeley. The main theme of the conversation was how dicey it was for the kids to graduate in 4 years. It’s almost 5 years by default. The school is reducing the number of classes for required courses. They were talking about not getting into classes they wanted to or have to to meet the requirement. Those aiming to graduate from popular majors have to chart their course carefully so that they are not bumped out of required courses. If you change your major mid way into a highly sought after major, this creates a nightmare scenario. Conveyor belt mass production courses (humongous lecture halls). Difficulty for freshmen/sophomore kids getting any attention from faculty, etc. </p>

<p>At U Chicago, it’s the opposite. See the post I made below: food for thought… Berkeley is a great place. But at the undergraduate level paying $53K/year??? No way it’s worth the money. For that kind of investment, you can go to a great private school, Chicago or not, and get small classes and individual attention. However, if you are getting in state tuition, I think it’s an amazing bargain, all things considered -after all, Berkeley is a world class institution. But not better than other world class institution charging about the same $$$ without the significant CA budget problem. Oh, by the way, if you are really going to be commuting, you need to factor in the expense of commuting - the car, gas, etc, and the opportunity cost of not being really part of the campus life not just for fun, but for academic activities and career building ECs and club activities that you need on your resume.</p>

<p>I know I am blunt here, but I am saying this as a parent whose son also got in Berkeley as an OOS. The moment he got accepted to U Chicago EA, we couldn’t care less about the pending admission decision from Berkeley. In fact, the only reason he even applied was because we considered Berkeley to be his safety, and their deadline was before the Chicago EA decisions came out. (Don’t flame me, I know Berkeley should not be considered a safety by anyone. We were really ignorant about college application and admission issues last year).</p>

6

<p>California continues to have a fiscal melt down. It is cutting faculty positions at its universities, raising class sizes, raising fees, and demoralizing staff and faculty with salary holidays.</p>

<p>Do you really want to attend college in such an environment?</p>

7

<p>Hyeonjilee: The situation may be different for OOS students, but in my honest opinion I think Berkeley <em>is</em> a legitimate safety for certain in-state students, given they have high scores and grades.</p>

8

<p>On top of what newmassdad, according to a study by University of Chicago and Northwestern researchers, California’s deficit is much more than originally calculated, and approaches a trillion. I’d bet anyone a large sum of money that they’re going to keep raising tuition prices through the roof.</p>

9

<p>S2 was admitted to Berkeley as an OSS (did not apply to UChicago much to his father’s consternation :(), but chose to go to Tulane instead for precisely the reasons hyeonjlee and newmassdad enumerated.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for all of the tips, guys! :)</p>

<p>I am really leaning towards U of C right now. I’m just hesitatnt about the cost. I only got a two thousand dollar grant, and my parents can only afford 10 thousand/year. That is a LOT of money to take out in loans. Does anyone have any tips about cutting cost of attendance (housing, book fees, etc.)? And is it truly affordable to go here?</p>

11

<p>Who is going to qualify for $44 K in loans PER YEAR in your family? That’s $170K in loans by the time you graduate! You need to seriously think about how much $$ your monthly payments will be ! here is a link to a calculator
<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;
as an example, the monthly payments on 140,000 come to $1000/ month for 20 years!
[As much as I loved the idea of my son going to U Chicago, there was no way I could justify paying that much money for an undergraduate education ,especially after the much better FA offers Son received from other peer colleges. I thought Chicago’s new UG FA program was supposed to help eliminate and equalize the huge difference in what Chicago offered and what other private colleges offer?but ai digress…]
I agree that Berkeley is not worth paying THAT much, especially these days. Financially, it’s going to get uglier and uglier out here in Calif. Do you have any other options besides those 2 schools?</p>

12

<p>Well, we have already been approved for the loan. My parents have excellent credit, and they are co-signing on my student loans (they have many loans of their own, though, hence the reason they can’t afford my student loans). They are just worried that I won’t be able to pay off the loans, and it’ll tank both of our credits, etc. I also plan on going into medical school, which I am aware is even more expensive. However, I plan to work for the National Health Service Corps so as to eliminate a lot of my medical school debt. If I recall, they even have a loan repayment program for undergraduate debt, but I’m not positive, so I’ll ignore that for now. But anyways, I plan to have a fairly high-paying career (after residency and fellowship, of course), so perhaps these loans could be affordable? I don’t have much else that I want to invest my money in, and perhaps that will change in the future, but right now I feel that the education is worth the debt. But I’m still a little bit afraid of all of that debt… It’s so intimidating.</p>

<p>And to answer your question, I was accepted at UChicago, Berkeley, and NYU. And my safety school is CU - Boulder, which would cost me $25,000/year. Yes, it is much cheaper, but I have so many reasons that I don’t want to go there. And NYU is comparable to Chicago as far as prices go, and it’s more expesnive than Berkeley. So I just eliminated it because I like Chicago more.</p>

13

<p>So I took a look at that calculator, and it actually makes me feel like this loan could be manageable. As I said before, I don’t have much else that I really wish to invest my money in, and I’m a pretty frugal person.</p>

14

<p>The UCs are not worth the OOS price, but not for the reasons posted on this thread. (Any kid smart enough to get in from OOS is smart enough to figure out a way to graduate in four years. The UCs are extremely generous with AP credit, for example. The 5+ year graduation rate applies almost all to the poor – of which you are clearly not – bcos of the lousy finaid. Most kids HAVE to work part time and thus take a minimum load.) And, no, instate residency will NOT happen.</p>

<p>Regardless, for the same money, a top private is a no-brainer.</p>

<p>btw: you are extremely foolish to assume that kind of debt for undergrad. There is no guarantee that you will even be accepted into med school. Moreover, I can guarantee you that medicine will not pay as well in the future – it will be cut.</p>

15

<p>The way the medical field is shaping up, I think heavily indebted future doctors, will be a very unhappy bunch with a financial albatross around their neck way into their 40’s. Look up posts by Taxguy to get some insight.</p>

16

<p>Well, if residency in California is practically impossible, then both of my schools are too expensive. So do I really have any other option other than my safety school, where I am fairly confidet I will be rather unhappy? I understand the uncertainty of the medical field at this point, and I realize that these loans are going to be a lot of money, but I’m also not sure that I’m really willing to sacrifice the opportunity. Everyone I know is going to Boulder. I want to meet new people, and I want to go out of state. It’s not just about getting an education; it’s about the experience. And I’m getting mixed signals now… Some say that it’s a stupid decision to go anywhere expensive as an undergrad, and others say that it’s stupid not to go to the top private because the finances can be managed if you’re careful…</p>

17

<p>I really think you just need to discuss this with your parents, listen to their advice and make a decision together. They know and love you, no one here does. Ultimately you are the one paying the loans or attending a school so don’t feel stupid either way. This is a grown-up difficult decision and you seem to be thinking it through with maturity.</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>It all depends on what you want to do.</p>

<p>If you were my son, I would do my best to persuade you not to incur $170K debt for undergrad education only to have additional $150+ for the medical school. The debt of $300-350K by the middle/late 20’s is like signing a life time indentured slave contract. </p>

<p>If you were a budding Wall Street investment bank who need the top college diploma to go straight into a top Wall Street job, I would have felt differently. After all, you are not likely to even get an interview at Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan from Colorado anyway, so if it’s your life ambition, well then… Even so, that $170K loan would REALLY make me hesitate, but at least it’s a worthwhile gamble. How do you know you will never change your mind? At the age of 17, no one should be making a decision that puts a near life time constraint on your degree of freedom going forward. </p>

<p>If you were my son, I would persuade you to go to Boulder. Excel. Four years later, if you still want the medical school, now, with more maturity and certainty, you can decide whether you are willing to commit to $150K ++ loan for your dream career. If you realize that your life’s calling is in a different field, no problem. You don’t have a noose around your neck. </p>

<p>Meanwhile, you do realize that going to a top medical school is not predicated on where you went to for undergrad education (unless it’s Podunk Univ.). I heard terrific GPA and MCAT score from any decent state university is good enough. If anything, people are wondering if U Chicago’s grade deflation is hurting the chances for pre med kids.</p>

19

<p>I think you need to compare your options (UChicago and UC – Boulder) in terms of finances.</p>

<p>At both schools, you can work the summers (~$2500) and work during the term (~$2500/yr). At each school you could try and get an RA position after your first year (free room and board). You can borrow Stafford Loans ($5500 – $7500/yr) and you said your parents are willing to pay $10,000/yr for you to go to school. At UChicago, you also got a $2000 grant/yr</p>

<p>UChicago – COA is ~$57,000 (if you are very careful, buy used books, etc – maybe $55,000)</p>

<p>UC Boulder – COA is ~$25,000 (again – conservatively, maybe $23,000) This is the instate cost for those who don’t realize how expensive UC Boulder is for instate students.</p>

<p>With summer work, term time employment, maximum stafford loans and your parent’s contribution you are looking at a gap of ~$132,000 at UChicago for 4 years at Chicago.</p>

<p>With the same summer work, term time employment, maximum stafford loans and parent contribution, you are looking at a gap of $5000 over the 4 years.</p>

<p>Even the University of Chicago alumni and admission office won’t tell you that UChicago is worth ~$170,000 undergraduate debt. It doesn’t matter what your future plans are.</p>

<p>I think you need to have a sit-down with parents – if your EFC is truly $50,000+ (which it must be if neither UChicago nor UC Boulder gave you any FA) your parents have assets and income which indicate that they can afford more than $10,000/yr. Perhaps they are simply unwilling to pay it – I don’t know. But UChicago is not the intelligent decision to make.</p>

20

<p>Thanks for all of the advice. It really helps.</p>

<p>I just wanted to mention again that I’m really interested in working for the National Health Service Corps. Essentially, they pay for medical school. And for every year they pay, you have to work for them in a “rural” (that’s a loose term by their standards) area for two years. It seems like a fantastic deal.</p>

<p>But yes, I am also very aware that I may change my mind in the future. But that seems more like a reason to go to Chicago. As it was previously stated by hyeonjlee, although it doesn’t matter where med students go to undergrad, it does matter for other areas. And for all I know, I’ll be looking for a job right out of college. Who knows?</p>

<p>And I have been speaking with my parents about all of this. They are just as undecided as I am (hence my reason for posting on here to get some advice). I’ve also been speaking with some of my teachers (whom I am very close to), and actually, they’re encouraging me to go to Chicago. I have a friend there right now who loves it and is taking out plenty of private loans. =/ And about our EFC, my parents have a very large income, yes. Unfortunately, they do not share the details of their finances with me. They claim to have too many loans of their own to help me pay for MY schooling, and apparently these loans couldn’t be accounted for on FAFSA (?). We’re going to talk to Chicago about it and maybe file an appeal. Yes, I do occasionally get the sense that my parents can afford to help me a little more, but they insist that they can’t.</p>