<p>sparent wrote:</p>
<p>“Also, I was upset that at junior days last year they announced they had just received 100 million donation for financial aid and told the parents not to worry, they assumed there would be more FA for students. But from what the articles say, they used that not to make more FA available to more students, but to make sure that if you earn less than 60,000, your kid will go to U/C completely free – no loans, nothing – and you are not asked to give up your pension in exchange for the FA.”</p>
<p>This is not accurate. My S was admitted to the U of C. Our income is significantly below the $60K threshold. He was given a grant, an Odyssey scholarship (that is what they are funding with the $100 million), and federal work-study. He was given the maximum Odyssey amount, about $5,200. This is said to “replace loans.” The loans it replaces are Staffords and the like. </p>
<p>The amount that we are expected to pay as a family, beyond work study, is over $20K per year. Part of that involves drawing down assets placed in the student’s name to zero over 4 years. Part of that assumes that the student contributes the usual summer earnings. The parental portion is over 30% of our meager income. They say that the expectation is about half income, and half assets. The only way to meet it is either to borrow against our home equity or to cash in 401K/IRA money at a huge penalty. (We have no pensions to lose, and we have not been able to contribute to our retirement savings for about a decade, due to unfortunate circumstances.)</p>
<p>“No loans” does not mean what you think it means.</p>