<p>SInce UIUC is a state public school, I wondered if there were any FA at all (for in-staters) since the tuition is already reduced for in staters due to tax subsidies. My daughter’s friend went there two yrs ago and was a top 1 pct ile and good ACTs at a selective HS in IL. and I was told by my friend that UIUC gave no merit aid, but just entrance into a scholars pgm , the only major benefit was first shot at the class schedule. So now two yrs later, my son is applying and I wondered…</p>
<p>1) does UIUC give out any merit aid (non need based) to IL residents?</p>
<p>2) does UIUC give out need based aid to IL residents?</p>
<p>2a) if so, does UIUC promise to meet the financial need of the applicant (defined by COA- EFC)?</p>
<p>I found an estimator tool (posted here for info in case any one else might be interested in the same or similar questions as I had posted in this thread):</p>
<p>In filling this out, I had a question on what the most recent tax yr wd be. for a student entering uiuc in fall 2011, and we are filling this thing out now, wd it be tax yr 2010 or 2009? of course, at this point, we do not have 2010 numbers, and will not get those until mid jan or feb. </p>
<p>Note, this tool is set up for 2009-10 and not for 2011-12, so if I wanted to project the cost for 2011-12 at this time (if I were attempting to consider an ED on 11-1-10 , eg , at another school , and I wanted to compare the cost to UIUC, I might it difficult to do, at least with this tool). </p>
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<p>i also wonder if 401 k assets are included in the assets slot?</p>
<p>That tool is nutz. But if the tool is accurate, then UIUC is nutz. I put in IL resident, $10,000 -yes 10,000 for total family income, zero taxes pd, 7k of parental assets, 3k for student assets, and it said that the student will have $ 7,500 /year in loans. that would be about $30k of debt at the end of 4 yrs.</p>
<p>I thought that state U was supposed to be cheaper than other colleges.</p>
<p>There are not many full rides or full tuition relief scholarships. There are many merit awards available offering some parital tuition relief determined by grades, test score, sometimes other factors and program, e.g., you will find more available in engineering than other colleges. Nevertheless, even if you can qualify for a merit award don’t expect a lot as amount for many can range from only $1,000 to $4,000 a year with a lot near that lower end.</p>
<p>UIUC does not guarantee to meet 100% of financial need. It uses FAFSA to determine aid. To put it bluntly, most are disappointed by need based financial aid given with aid given more in the 70% to 80% of need range as determined using FAFSA and even that can have more loans than many want to deal with.</p>
<p>OK. I just got off teh phone from FA at UIUC. I was told that the tool I used above IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY EVEN FOR ESTIMATES. It needs work, I was told. So there is NO way to get an accurate estimate of the <em>rough</em> cost of enrolling at UIUC BEFORE I enroll - I was told. They really should take that page down as it might mislead people even w/ the proviso that it is not an exact number.</p>
<p>In another part of the UIUC 's website there are a couple of links to two other outside EFC estimators, collegeboard and another one. BUT , since there is no way to know what the estimated mix of grants and loans would be to take care of the rest of the need, this is largely useless. There apparently is no policy governing how much need will be met. The policy statement is that ‘UIUC does not guarantee to meet 100 pct of need.’<br>
[University</a> of Illinois Financial Aid: Calculators](<a href=“http://www.osfa.uiuc.edu/resources/calculators/index.html]University”>http://www.osfa.uiuc.edu/resources/calculators/index.html)</p>
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<p>do you happen to have a place on the web that you can cite that gives detail on merit based aid (in engineering)? I had heard that there was no any merit aid at UIUC. And now it looks like there is not much need based aid.</p>
<p>But actually, I don’t care if there is no merit aid, or not that much aid, or no need based aid or not that much need based aid (it is simply a part of the attributes of UIUC) - ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS ABOUT HOW MUCH IT WOULD COST TO GO TO THIS COLLEGE - and other colleges, too, THEN I can rationally compare them.</p>
<p>As I understand it, the feds are mandating standardized net cost calculators for all colleges that recv fed money - starting next yr. too late for my hs sr now, but hopefully it’ll be better for my hs fr.</p>
<p>When my son went through the application process, he applied to, and was admitted to several institutions. A financial aid award letter from each institution was forwarded before the May 1st admissions acceptance deadline. I think I had them all by the beginning of April, or thereabouts. I didn’t use an estimator. I waited for the actual award letters. Once I had them all, I could make an informed decision as to which ones were financially in the finals of the admissions derby.</p>
<p>What you do need to do, which is a pain, is get your taxes done as early as possible. While they all say that you can provide them with “last year’s tax numbers”, they really need the latest year’s tax returns.</p>
<p>I was pleasantly surprised with some of the institution’s offers. UIUC wasn’t one of them, in terms of need-based financial aid. It was just a combination of both subsidized and unsubsidized federal and parent-plus loans, as were the other state institutions to which he applied except for Purdue, where he got the merit-based trustee’s scholarship.</p>
<p>I hear you - what is better than an estimate? The real offer. One scenario, however, where an estimate is better than a real offer is when an ED is in the mix of schools. ED telescopes the whole process into a single point in time BEFORE one can get the actual offers to compare. This is when a fairly accurate estimate is essential not just at the ED school (UIUC does not offer ED), but at the other competing schools to put the ED school’s price in relief. Son is entertaining applying ED at another competing school. </p>
<p>The other reason for having an accurate estimate is - why waste time (student’s time, family’s time, HS school’s time) applying to a college that one would not have a serious chance to pay for?</p>
<p>Paying for college is the other side of the ‘safety match reach’ calculus that we normally use for admissions chances.</p>
<p>The feds thought there was a good enough reason to mandate the calculators. The premise? More (accurate, obviously) info for the consumer of colleges is better than less.</p>
<p>Roderick, it is a crap shoot at best! Research, Research, Research! </p>
<p>Go buy this book: “Paying for College Without Going Broke Princeton Review 2011 Edition” by Kalman Chany, it should be out now. </p>
<p>Do the worksheets in the back of the book to calculate your EFC under both the FM (Federal Methodology) & the IM (Institutional Methodology) </p>
<p>This 2011 Edition should be used with your 2010 Tax Returns. You don’t have 2010 numbers but you can use estimates or use your 2009 Returns if your income did not change much from 2009 to 2010. </p>
<p>Read the book, it may help you get together some info so when you do FAFSA, CSS Profile, you are prepared. The book will help you out! We have used it for years & I believe it has saved us $1,000’s. Be an educated consumer! </p>
<p>What I find so amazing is that people will do more research on buying a new refrigerator, TV, car, computer etc, but when it comes to paying for colleges for their children, they just fill out the forms & then stick their heads in the sand, hoping for the best! Then around April 1st, they are in total shock when they read the FA packages. </p>
<p>It does matter which schools your child applies to if you need financial aid.</p>
<p>Slu, would that book help me know what a school will dole out as far as the mix between grants and loans AFTER I pay my EFC? I have heard of that book. And one of the ways it can save you money is to legally reduce your EFC, correct?</p>
<p>I see that I can pretty accurately arrive at an EFC under both FM ir IM or both methodologies with the collegeboard calculators and other online tools. I can ascertain my need (COA-EFC). But how can I ascertain how that need will be met, if at all?</p>
<p>uiuc will likely meet your need, they’ll just all be in loans.</p>
<p>scholarship/grants for incoming freshman depend on a few main things:
-efc (if you’re eligible for pell grant, you’re eligible for a lot more awards)
-rigorous high school academics, as in a lot of APs & honors classes, may or may not require you to be pell grant eligible depending on award
-teaching majors
-rotc
-minority status (one of my friends with lesser, but still decent, achievements got a full ride for being a minority)</p>
<p>there are also some small scholarships that are a few hundred dollars each that they might give you for stuff like being a non-smoker, but the ones listed are the big ones. scholarships awarded within individual colleges are few for incoming freshman.</p>
<p>if you have efc above 9000, you’re pretty much out of luck, but there are a lot more opportunities after freshman year to apply for merit based awards through your college/employer/organization. so if you can just barely afford freshman year, make sure you search those scholarships out.</p>
<p>being thrifty with your money can also easily cut up to $2000 off of your COA.</p>
<p>from another thread, I jut discovered something reported by collegeboard on FA, avg pct of need met. I saw one schol that I was familiar with and that I thought was actually stingy, and collegeboard reported 95 pct in this line for that school. Now I see that CB reports a dearthly 71 pct here for UIUC.</p>
<p>That line assumes 'meeting ’ need to be loans and grants and w/s.</p>