National Merit Scholarship - replace loans or university grants?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I'm a National Merit Finalist, and I know U of C gives $2000 to NM finalists who qualify for financial aid, but will this money replace the loans that were included in my estimate? Or will it just replace University of Chicago grant money?</p>

2

<p>You should be $2k less in debt by the end of the year. :)</p>

3

<p>Do you know that for sure? If so, that’s great!</p>

4

<p>As far as I know, but you can ask UChicagoPSAC and be 100% sure.</p>

5

<p>^ Apparently not. This is from an email College Aid sent me when I asked about it:</p>

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6

<p>^^^ weird… my loans decreased from the initial estimate and everything added up to where the NMS $ plus Odyssey were canceling my loans…</p>

7

<p>Are you sure it was the NMF scholarship decreasing your loans and not just Odyssey?</p>

8

<p>My son was in the same boat last year. </p>

<p>$2000 NMS lowered our family contribution and R.Byrd Scholarship $1500 lowered his expected contribution from work over the summer. Mainly, you have to work less during the school year and the summer before.
Odyssey scholarships are need scholarships for students from families with adjusted gross income from 40-75K and work like this:
40-60K full odyssey (this was $5300 for 2009-2010)
60-75K half odyssey ($2650 for 2009-2010 school year)</p>

<p>2009-2010 odyssey was less than 2008-2009 when this was $6400 and $3200 respectively.
Hope this answers your question.</p>

9

<p>^ Was this the $2500 one-time award given to National Merit Scholars? Or the $2000/year given by Chicago to NMFs? Are you absolutely sure it went into family contribution?</p>

10

<p>UChicago is a participating school in the NM program. If you get the $2k/year from UChicago you have to relinquish the $2.5k from NM or deduct it from the $8k total for the 4 years (you’ll only get $5.5k from UChicago). There’s no double-dipping. That’s why they are so insistent on determining your first choice. S got a letter that he had to sign, stating that all he was getting was the $2k/year from UChicago. How it is applied to your FA is particular to your case.</p>

11

<p>^ Yes, I realize that. I was told by College Aid that if I took the $2k/year it would only eat into my University grant. Augh. [tears out hair]</p>