<p>Chicago ended up being the second cheapest school to which I was accepted after aid. My family is lower-middle class, and the aid I was offered at safety schools was nowhere near what Chicago gave me. Other schools gave me very generous merit aid, but simply didn’t have the means to match Chicago’s need-based aid. While I agree with the intent of the letter, the phrasing of it was rather strong and unnecessarily negative. Whenever I’ve spoken to anyone about appealing financial aid offers, they always stress the importance of not sounding ungrateful of deserving of more money, which I think that letter does. Its not as though President Zimmer doesn’t believe everyone who is admitted should be able to attend. I’m sure the financial aid office wishes their packages could allow everyone to go there, and there is probably need for an overhaul in the way information is looked at and what factors are taken into account - cost of living, for example, which the Odyssey Scholarships don’t take into account; 75,000/yr is much different in, say, Southern Connecticut than it is in Kentucky.</p>