I really want to go to the University of Chicago. I want to apply ED to increase my chances as much as possible. However, most FA calculators predict that I’d have to pay about 53k after grants. My parents don’t want to pay this much but I really want to apply ED. I made a deal with them. IF i get accepted, they will pay half the tuition and I’ll cover the rest, which if the estimates are right, will be around 27k. If I only rent textbooks, eat really cheap food, get some scholarships, and work everyday I think I should be able to amass about 15-20k and then leave the rest as debt. I know that you shouldn’t apply ED if not very financially secure but I am willing to work very hard to make this dream come true. However, are my goals just way too unrealistic or should I try?
You can only borrow ~$5500/year. If you work summers you can probably earn another $3k. There aren’t a lot of outside scholarships and most of those that do exist are for low amounts (~$500) and are only for one year. I don’t see a way for you to raise $27k/year for the next 4 years.
ED is only right if both are met: 1) you know the school is your first choice and 2) you would definitely attend if admitted (note - this is NOT a good faith effort but a binding commitment). Can you really say that #2 is met? I’m seriously wondering if your parents have thought this through as well - given that they’ve agreed that you will fork over $27,000 via book rental, cheap food, some as-yet-unnamed scholarships, a part-time job (realistic at UChicago?) and, finally, an amount of debt that THEY would end up having to co-sign! (Anything over $5,500 is either a Parent Plus loan or a private loan that will likely require their John Hancock).
Why not try EA? Perhaps the chances for admission are lower (we really don’t know what’s going on this year!) but the up side is that you can walk away without penalty and you have more bargaining power with them if accepted.
I made 50k (like 30k after taxes) over the last year due to my summer internship and work throughout the school year; it is definitely possible to meet your goal. However, you can’t do it with minimum wage jobs, you will need to be skilled at a specific discipline. What is your intended major?
Here are some basic run downs on how many hours you need to work:
Low-wage job: $15/hour means you will need to work about 3000 hours during the year to make enough money after taxes. For a 12 week summer internship at 40 hours/week, you will have 480 covered. This means you have 2520 hours left to do. Add 4 weeks of full-time work for winter and spring break, that brings you to 2360 hours left. Given that there are about 33 weeks in the UChicago school year, this means you will need to work nearly 70 hours a week during the school year to meet your target!
Good-wage job: $45/hour means you will need to work about 1000 hours during the year to meet your target. Summer internship + winter/spring full time work will bring you down to 360 hours remaining. This comes down to about 10 hours a week of work during the school year, which is manageable with a UChicago schedule.
Also, is 53k your total cost of attendance? If so, how much of it is actual tuition, and how much is for food/housing, travel, and other expenses? You can cut the latter part to half of what they estimate by moving off campus (during second year), and spending conservatively.
You can walk away from ED if the financial aid package is not adequate, too. And in this case the student determines what is adequate and what isn’t. The only “penalty” is that you have to relinquish your acceptance to Chicago. and you can’t wait to see what other colleges offer you before making that decision.
It would be crazy to enroll anywhere assuming that, without your parents’ credit, you were going to earn, borrow, or get scholarships amounting to $27,000 per year. That’s completely unrealistic unless you already have a small business that you don’t need to spend more than 15-20 hours/week running that generates that kind of cash flow.
Good-wage job? That’s $90k a year. I’ve been a lawyer for 28 years and I don’t make anything like that. Granted that I work for the government and I’m Downstate, but maybe I should quit and just get an internship.
Remember for at least the first year you have to live on campus with a full food plan, so “eating cheap food” won’t help you there.
@poblob14 Almost every tech (programming) internship pays between $40-$50 a hour, along with a stipend (approx 6k) for housing and travel. Tech is unique in that they are also more than willing to take first/second years, given proven aptitude. Here are some standard internship salaries:
https://www.glassdoor.com/Intern-Salary/Facebook-Internship-Salary-E40772.htm
https://www.glassdoor.com/Intern-Salary/Palantir-Technologies-Internship-Salary-E236375.htm
https://www.glassdoor.com/Intern-Salary/Microsoft-Internship-Salary-E1651.htm
I found that the top startups also paid similar/better wages. Note that clocking overtime is at 1.5x rate, and double time is at 2x rate.
There are also similar (or better) wages in quant trading/quant finance, or traditional finance if you are a 3rd year. Of course, it depends on the student’s skills and intended major, but it is certainly possible to make $45/hour while still in school- I know of many that did/do.
@JHS at post #4: You can walk away? Are you sure? Is that clause included in the ED contract? Because ED is supposed to be a binding agreement so even if one school doesn’t enforce it as a practical matter, that doesn’t mean another school will follow suit. We know a few schools that take the ED contract very seriously indeed and to break it w/o extraordinary circumstance (job loss may count, sloppy financial planning will not) could jeopardize the applicant’s status with his/her remaining schools. Why risk that? ED is for serious applicants who have thought through the ramifications of contracting with the institution. Really wanting to go and wanting to increase chances as much as possible are necessary but not sufficient criteria for applying ED.
No one can count on getting an internship at those wages (and we don’t even know if OP would be majoring in the right field for that anyway) nor can you count on getting some large scholarship. Sure anything is possible, but the OP must deal with what is probable. Hoping for a good job and scholarships to make that kind of money does sound crazy.
As for backing out on the ED. Technically, you can back out if the FA isn’t enough. But one shouldn’t do so lightly. You’ve run the NPC, you know what it says. If the FA comes in anywhere close to that I would say you are ethically bound to accept. Besides, if you know it’s not likely to work, why bother? Sounds like a waste of time.
OP - what are you going to do if you can’t make ends meet? Withdraw? Take on more loans? (You can only do so much without your parents cosigning)…Don’t set yourself up this way.
The one way you can walk away from an ED offer is if the finances do not work (FA offer is not sufficient). But it is pretty disingenuous to apply ED anyway if the NPC shows it as unaffordable. OP, it is unaffordable. If you have to apply, go EA or RD.
Most of my peers and family friends were lucky to find a 20$ an hour internship/coop
45 is outrageous
I agree with most of you that the OP is indulging in magical thinking and probably shouldn’t apply ED to Chicago, butI don’t think signing the ED agreement constitutes a warranty that one has the financial capacity to make the family contribution suggested by Chicago’s NPC app. If only because Chicago has significant merit scholarships as well as need-based aid . . .
Aren’t parents/guardians required to sign the Early Decision contract? If so, OP needs to make sure his/her 'rents are on board with that.
UChicago isn’t going to go after someone for the tuition dollars. What they might require, however, is that OP stick to the binding agreement which includes both immediate acceptance and immediate withdrawal from all other universities. Should OP find he/she can’t attend - well, that could be a bit of a sticky wicket. OP will have to go back to all those colleges and explain that he/she didn’t stick to an ED contract. Should OP opt NOT to fulfill his/her agreement to withdraw, that risks nullifying the ED contract with UChicago and/or perhaps even a rescind from other institutions. Just not worth it unless, as UChicago states: you are certain that UChicago is your first choice AND that you would attend immediately if offered admission.
UChicago might have significant merit scholarships and need-based aid but ED doesn’t give the applicant any bargaining position. Quite the opposite. Logically, UChicago is more likely to devote those resources to the EA’s who ARE comparing offers. When you go ED, you are contractually professing a commitment to the school in exchange for an edge in the admissions pool. Unless there is a clause stating otherwise, it would be foolish to view that contractual commitment as anything other than what it is - a contractual commitment. UChicago certainly views it that way because they say so on their website.
Well that’s unfortunate, i guess I did some too much wishful thinking. Does anyone know how much higher the ED acceptance rate will be than the EA one? I’m only on the bubble as of now and I was hoping applying ED would bump me over. But I guess if it’s going to be financially impossible then I should just do what’s best instead of what I want 
I’m intending to double major in poli sci and biochem and then go to law school and do corporate and patent law for the record.
All the more reason not to do this…you have more schooling and, therefore, more tuition yet to pay. I’m glad you are taking our advice.
There is a lot of work at UChicago by that I mean school work. It would be very difficult to work more than a few hours per week. My son has a job for approximately 5 hours a week (flexible and relatively high paying but it’s federal work study which you would probably not qualify for) and it has been touch and go if he can keep that job. He chose to take hard classes and a full 4 course load when lots take 3 classes 1st quarter of first year. Renting books wouldn’t hep because a lot of the classes use the same books for multiple quarters. The dining plan for first years is $6000 per year. No other option. The only meal it doesn’t include is Saturday dinner so you would have to pay for that too.