Why is UChicago so generous?

Paying for College
1

<p>Why, when all of the schools of similar prestige and rank (USNEWS based), don't give scholarships (except a measly portion by Duke and WUSTL), does UChicago give so much merit scholarships? About a dozen full tutition scholarships, and then over 100 $10,000 per year scholarships?</p>

<p>Though I'm not complaining, I'm wondering why, since they don't need merit money to attract students considering they are more prestigious than most ivies. One of my friends was rejected from all the ivies and got into his local state school, full scholarship, and the University of Chicago, full scholarship. LoL.</p>

2

<p>UChicago is cheap to attend.</p>

3

<p>The rap on the U of Chicago until very recently was that it is NOT generous. U of Chicago's new Odyssey Scholarship program, which is a need-based program, </p>

<p>The</a> University of Chicago: Odyssey Scholarships </p>

<p>seems to be changing the rap. </p>

<p>What information sources would one use to show that one college is more prestigious than another?</p>

4

<p>The ones the OP mentions are purely merit and they gave them out before the Odyssey program started. Odyssey is based on financial need and I'm sure will make the school affordable to a lot more people. Watch the yield for UChicago start to fall drastically.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
Watch the yield for UChicago start to fall drastically.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Do you mean for the yield to increase and the admission rate to fall?</p>

6

<p>That's what I meant. Also they are going to go the common application route with a touch of the uncommon application essays.</p>

7

<p>Is it generous? We found it very difficult to deal with the UChi financial aid office, and finally gave up and accepted a full ride elsewhere. Compared to other schools our family dealt with, U Chicago was the worst of all in terms of rigid financial aid bureaucracy.</p>

8

<p>When I got accepted three years ago, I thought that they were pretty stingy. However, I heard that many major changes have transpired since then, which made them a lot more generous.</p>

9

<p>Do you guys know any more colleges which are generous to international students?</p>

10

<p>The OP's question was about merit aid, not need-based aid. </p>

<p>I think Chicago has been generous with merit aid because it's had to be to get the top students it wants. Its reputation in the academic world is stellar, but it doesn't have the same kind of instant name recognition among the public generally that the Ivies, Stanford, MIT and a few others have. A lot of people still hear the name and assume it's either public (like, say, the University of Cincinnati) or a Catholic school (like, say, the University of San Francisco or Saint Louis University). Savvy college applicants know it's a top-tier private institution, but for a variety of reasons it doesn't end up at the top of many people's wish list. </p>

<p>As a wise old professor of mine used to the, "The terms of trade don't favor the Midwest." East Coast kids generally prefer to stay on the East Coast, or possibly head to California. West Coast kids generally prefer to stay on the West Coast, or go to the East Coast. Midwest kids either stay in the Midwest---in which case, most have some pretty darned good in-state public options like Michigan, Wisconsin, or UIUC---or, if they prefer to go private, are as likely to head for the East or West Coasts as they are to stay in the Midwest. (That's why some really terrific Midwest LACs like Carleton, Grinnell, Macalester, and Oberlin also have significantly higher acceptance rates and lower yields than their coastal counterparts; and why, in some cases, they also offer merit aid). </p>

<p>Also, the University of Chicago has earned (and in some ways cultivated) a reputation over the years as a nerdy, grinding, extremely hard-working, deeply intellectual place where the usual sorts of college fun and frivolity are hard to come by. That appeals to some, but a tender few.</p>

<p>But I do think in recent years the University of Chicago has been one of the chief beneficiaries of the US News rankings, and the obsession with "prestige" that it's engendered. Very few applicants are going to get into HYPSM and the other Ivies. A lot of very well qualified applicants are determined to go to the "most prestigious" school they can get into. So schools like Chicago, Duke, Northwestern, WUSTL, JHU, Emory, and Rice are lurking around, always toward the top of the US News rankings, ready to sweep up this year's crop of HYPSM and Ivy rejects. As a consequence, Chicago's acceptance rate is falling dramatically, and its yield is rising. I'd expect that to continue. If it does, merit aid may become less important to the school in the years to come.</p>

11

<p>Chicago has chosen to use some of its money for merit scholarships rather than lowering/eliminating loan packages or extending the threshholds for fin aid as some of the top schools have done. The reasons are likely to be what bclintock says, in my opinion.</p>

12

<p>My sense is that the U of C has some merit scholarships because of various historic reasons, rather than as an overall strategy. There are several full tuition scholarships for Chicago Public School students, for example. My daughter's best friend won one for the U of C. She was also admitted to Harvard and Yale, and attends Yale, in spite of the poorest financial aid offer.
I agree that offering some merit aid makes strategic sense for a school in the U of C's position. But this is almost an accident of history, as well as a product of not being bound by Ivy or other conference dictates of "no merit scholarships".
For need based scholarships, I don't think the U of C is generous at all compared to peers, except at the low income end. I've met many students from California who wanted to go to Berkeley or UCLA but ended up at the U of C because of the money. They tend to feel a little bitter about it.
I'll add that the U of C has been a prime beneficiary of the echo boom overflow at the Ivies.</p>

13

<p>I originally come from Chicago and attended Northwestern, but applied to both UC and NU. Schools like NU and UC are financially generous because they have large endowments from very, very generous alumni who are now very successful and want to give back to their university. In turn, and most importantly, UC and NU then make the institutional decision to award a large part of their endowment money to students in need and students of high academic caliber. Both UC and NU offer elimination of loans (replaced with grants) to students who qualify. UC's loan elimination program has elimination of loans and loan limits. The Project on Student Debt has this information, but I can't find it at this time. Perhaps you can research the UC's website and/or Google to find out more about these great programs. Many of the more selective and highly selective schools are participating in this to varying degrees based on income, some with higher income limits, etc. Good luck!</p>

14

<p>“they don’t need merit money to attract students considering they are more prestigious than most ivies”</p>

<p>The undergraduate College at Chicago is not more prestigious than most Ivies. In fact, students generally choose Ivies, with exception of Cornell, over Chicago. Cornell and Chicago’s has a 50/50 split. Students have a easier time getting to where they want to be in career and life at Ivies compared to Chicago.</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>By reputation, but not true. See career salaries sorted by university, and you’ll see that the average Chicago student earns more than the average student from Cornell, Columbia, and Brown.</p>

16

<p>Phuriku, it’s surprising to see Chicago beat out some schools that traditionally send many more students into lucrative fields like finance. But I’d like to believe it :)</p>

<p>Do you have the link for that?</p>