<p>So I got my financial aid estimate and it estimates that I would get around 46,000 in grants and then around 9,000 in loans. My question is: if I get outside scholarships would they take off from the loans, or would they just decrease their grant?</p>
<p>They take off from your loans, then start deducting from grant money once the loan money is exhausted.</p>
<p>What about University Merit Scholarships? Do those affect the financial aid estimate at all?</p>
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<p>If you don’t mind me asking, what is your income bracket? That’s a lot of financial aid from Chicago, who I hear is very stingy with financial aid.</p>
<p>My income bracket is ~ $50,000 this year. I’m applying to Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton, all of which I would go to for next to nothing, but of course I can’t be sure I’ll get into any of them, so I’m trying to decided if I should actively pursue scholarships, because I really don’t want $10,000 of loans per year if I end up at Chicago.</p>
<p>^Wow that sucks dude, lots of top schools have a 60000 cutoff for 0 family contribution, not Chicago tho, which sucks so bad…</p>
<p>^^ That’s actually kind of weird–at $50k a year, you should be getting an Odyssey scholarship. There shouldn’t be loans in your package.</p>
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<p>What is the cutoff for 0 family contribution?</p>
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<p>I’m assuming there aren’t. They just didn’t cover everything and expect his family to pay $10k/year. My parents’ income is $60k/year, and they expect my parents to contribute about $15k/year. So I initially thought I would have to take out $5k/year of Stafford loans, even though they technically aren’t part of my financial aid package.</p>
<p>Honestly though, my on-campus job has compensated for all of this, and so I’m going to graduate with less than $500 in loans TOTAL. So be optimistic, spratleyj. Once the rest of your aid package comes through, you’ll probably get federal work-study. You can save another $2-3k/year by moving to International House (which offers scholarships) and make up the rest by working and not spending the $3k for personal expenses that Chicago assumes you will. And honestly, your parents should be contributing at least a little to your food/housing expenses, which is a substantial portion of the $55k annual total… that would mean you wouldn’t have to make up as much via work or by moving to i-House.</p>
<p>Well, I just got a big packet in the mail, and apparently they don’t award Odyssey Scholarships until after they receive FASA and everything, would that then cover the ~ $7000 of loans that are in the PACKAGE?</p>