<p>First of all, congratulations to my fellow potential Chicago 2012 classmates. This is likely the best I've ever felt in my life.</p>
<p>Now I'm in the midst of a dilemma. I applied to Cornell early decision, thinking that I would receive an adequate financial aid package from them, considering my household income is around $32K a year. But recently, I've been hearing some, well, "bad" things about Cornell's financial aid. By the looks of it, I would graduate with a lot of debt if I went there.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, I hear that at UChicago, if your income is below a certain level ($60K maybe), you are able to attend virtually for free. Is this true? Not only that, UChicago's atmosphere and surrounding city is starting to appeal more and more to me than the gigantic frat scene and ample forestry that can be associated with Cornell. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to go to either, but if I can seize the opportunity to go to UChicago for little cost (by withdrawing my ED application from Cornell by Wednesday), I'll do it.</p>
<p>Nobody knows what the effect of the Odyssey scholarships are yet. They're supposed to delete loans and replace them with grants, but I think this only takes something like $5,000/year off each financial aid package.</p>
<p>Below 60k, you have no student loans. That means you only pay the EFC, which in your case, unless you have a lot of assets, is probably nothing. (Plus work-study and a summer job, but that's a given anywhere.)</p>
<p>I'm fairly certain the above is correct, but get confirmation before you make a decision that crucial.</p>
<p>The Chicago EFC is different from other schools' EFC, by the way. My government EFC was something like $3000, and Chicago ordered me to pay $20,000/year.</p>
<p>Really, it all depends... I have friends who got a better financial aid agreement at Chicago than anywhere else, and I have friends who are the total opposite. I really don't know how they calculate it, but I think they put more stuff in their calculator than other schools'. I heard someone on this board say that they used their parents' retirement fund for calculation.</p>
<p>Don't get ahead of yourself, though. Financial aid can go either way, so just wait for your decisions and enjoy the fact that you got accepted.</p>
<p>I would call the financial aid office. Now, don't take me seriously on this, but after the Odyssey Scholarship, I'd say you'd be required to pay $5000-10000/year. UChicago expects students to take out SOME loans, and work during the school year and the summer, and this would be about the amount that they could expect from you if you did all of those things.</p>
<p>Don't make any sudden moves. Talk to your parents about it.</p>
<p>I have a dilemma here. I definitely want to go to Chicago, but if I go ahead and accept the offer, does that in any way affect my chances at a scholarship? Am I less likely to get one if I've committed?</p>
<p>I don't think it'll change the offer if you accept, morganna. They're not inhumane (although it may seem like it sometimes). Personally, I'd wait and find out the offer before accepting anyway, though.</p>
<p>I'm really worried about financial aid.. my family's numbers look really weird because we own a family farm and we were uneducated when we filled out the forms. I think we made ourselves look like we have more money than we do. Our income also appears A LOT higher than normal last year because of a conservation easement. If I don't get as much financial aid as I think I could/should is there anyway to "appeal" to the financial aid office? Send more information? I mean.. my dad can't sell the farm to send me to college.</p>
<p>Morganna- accepting early admission now/soon/before scholarships come out does not change your chance of getting a merit scholarship. I was EA last year, sent my paperwork in in January and got a merit scholarship in April. I know at least three other people for whom this was also the case.
I was also kind of freaked out by that... my main sentiment was, " if I accept now, they'll think i can afford it, and will be less likely to award a scholarship, yeah?" I found that not to be the case, and would urge you not to worry about it if you're thinking about merit aid but want to accept your place in the class of 2012.</p>
<p>blindkite -- My dad's in real estate and most of our income comes from his rentals; likewise to your situation, all of our assets are contained there and we can't exactly sell them to pay for college : |</p>