NatalieW

Has anyone successfully appealed their financial aid package? We sent an appeal letter a few days ago that contained new information, including that my mother's income had gone down by $20,000 from 2006 to 2007, and I'm wondering what the likelihood of a better offer is, as I simply can't afford Chicago with the aid I was given.

chicagoboy12

they are kinda stubborn actually. they review the new info, but will just say "well, we have to use the figures we have...." . in the tan booklet that came with your FA offer, however, it says after you accept your offer of admission then they will review your FA. i asked about this, and they said they only do it if they previously did not look at the 07 taxes.

WindSlicer

I did, but it's because we incorrectly filled out the financial aid form.

It really can't hurt to try, though.

rap_mom

We appealed after acceptance last year, providing information about additional expenses that didn't show up on CSS profile or FAFSA. They did adjust the offer, albeit not as much as we would have hoped. So, as previous poster says, it's worth the effort. A friend of my S (who decided to go elsewhere on more-than-a-full-ride) provided additional info to the UChicago FA office that lead them to revise their offer in a MAJOR way. So, they are not immovable, but the offer may not change as much as you would wish. Hard to predict.

Consolation

I went in and talked with an FA person during the 4/10-11 event. I presented our situation, left an appeal letter and documents, and was told that it would be reviewed within 10 days. We were presenting a clarification and a change in circumstances. You don't have to do it in person, but since I was going to be there anyway we thought that enabling the FA people to look one in the eye, so to speak, would be helpful.

We were advised that what one should NOT do is go in with an aggressive "let's make a deal" attitude.

WindSlicer

Yea, definitely do not have an aggressive or "I know I'm right, so just stop talking and listen to me" attitude. I recall some posts last year that suggested the FA office was extremely grumpy and weren't really listening to their issues. However, when we called (and my parents, as salespeople, understand that most service jobs involves a lot of frustration, made sure to be as polite as possible) we found an extremely helpful person in the office and she even commented (when I met her in person 1st quarter) that it was enjoyable to talk to people who were not calling to vent about a financial package.

NatalieW

My dad wrote a very polite letter simply highlighting the new information that we had, and also mentioning that the cost of living where we live stretches our income farther than it would in other parts of the country. Going on advice from a financial aid officer at a local college, he also mentioned the lack of value in any of our assets; we spend the bare minimum in terms of luxuries, drive a crappy car, and will be willing to put whatever money my parents make outside of necessities towards my education. I'm not sure if any of it will help, but I've been told that they take into consideration cost of living only if you ask them to. While I'm trying very hard to afford UChicago, can anyone possibly point me in the direction of a source of information that could tell me how much I can expect to make as a graduate in poli sci or econ and what a reasonable amount of debt to assume is?

idad

Salary is tied to occupation and those areas have an endless variety of opportunities and salaries. Keeping debt as small as possible, while meeting you personal educational goals is probably a good idea.

NatalieW

Thanks to everyone for their help and advice. Chicago just faxed over our new aid award, and its $7000 more than it originally was. It looks as though Chicago may just work, while leaving me about $38,000 in debt.

WindSlicer

Congrats!

Personally, I'll probably be graduating with about the same amount of debt and I believe that it's not too absurd an amount.