<p>You have to consider the institutional priorities of the school. Its graduate programs are top tier and are make or break for its reputation. While the College is by no means an afterthought for UChicago, as it was frequently branded in the 1980s, it is definitely low on the totem pole compared to the schools expensive and high profile doctoral programs (the professional schools mostly self fund). Consequently, when people make a comparison between the financial aid at Chicago versus Rice, Dartmouth, Brown, Northwestern or LACs, they are basically overlooking the fact that these schools have weaker graduate offerings or none at all. And as noted by posters prior, drawing comparisons with HYPSM overlooks huge endowment differences.</p>
<p>However, there is no doubt that the schools aid structure when weaker (varies by applicant) hurts it in its competition with the likes of Cornell, Penn, Columbia, Hopkins and Berkeley for cross admits. I would not personally tell a middle class student to pass on substantial aid to attend Chicago over these schools given their common reputation as research universities.</p>