<p>I read this on Fiske Guide to Colleges 2009.</p>
<p>"The school hands out merit scholarships each year, worth an average of $11,311, and has eliminated loans from the financial aid packages for families with incomes below $60,000 a year and cut loans in half for families with incomes below $100,000."</p>
<p>However, I wasn't able to find such information on the school financial aid website.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if they still have this policy, or did they change it already?</p>
<p>[The</a> University of Chicago - Odyssey Scholarship Challenge](<a href=“http://odyssey.uchicago.edu/index.html]The”>Support the UChicago Odyssey Scholarship Program)</p>
<p>Although the Odyssey is labeled a “scholarship”, it is tied to financial aid and not merit. Not to say that students who receive it are not meritorious-- just that financial need is the criterion used for distribution, so, it is not available to students without financial need or as part of the “checking the box” for merit scholarships on your application.</p>
<p>Chicago abandoned the no-loans policy last year, and this year the scholarship amounts have decreased even in comparison to last year. Currently, UChicago offers $3500 for all students with family incomes under $60k, and $1500 for all with family incomes between $60K and $75K. Still, at least for low-income students, UChicago has a very good finaid policy in place. For example, for a student with an EFC of 0, UChicago will cover (through federal, state, and institutional grants) everything except for approximately $9500, and that $9500 is to be covered through a combination of Stafford and Perkins loans ($7500) and work-study ($2000). Because of the Odyssey scholarships, an additional $3500 is lopped off the $9500, leaving $6000. Finally, the last opportunity for institutional funds is the UChicago National Merit scholarship (If you’re a NM finalist) and that amounts to $2000 annually, which leaves a bottom line of $4000.</p>