<p>NMD -
the pizza sounds wonderful … I should do the homemade crust again - haven’t for years!</p>
<p>I would concur about not deciding for your parents how they should spend their money. If they believe the education you can get at the U of C is worth it, by all means pursue it if you hold the same position. I would only advise you against using a portion of their money if they were opposed to you attending Chicago on a personal level, but were giving you the funds out of some fear it might hamper family relations in the future by you being bitter. Personally, I made the mistake of taking my parents money for college on the grounds that they were collectively pulling down the cost of attendance several times over in any given year, despite knowing they were wary about the core, the schools bookish culture, and its lack of overtly professional majors. Indeed, I knew they could never see past the financial return on investment element of higher education, and consequently, by my third year their support faltered. They would never let me forget that I could have graduated in two years through my AP credit, more or less for free, with an accounting degree from some middling private U (that had bent over backwards to recruit me). As a result, I am now cutting them and Citigroup large checks each month until they are paid back in full. </p>
<p>On the flip side, I would not buy the idea that sending a son or daughter to Chicago for 200K is at its face absurd. The majority of UChicago families are more or less paying full fare, and no doubt most of their children could have found a full ride somewhere had they taken the effort to look and apply. Not at a school like CC necessarily, but at a Big State U or a more mediocre private for sure. You just have to be certain that your parents believe in what the school is about, and what you yourself are going to do there. For some, the idea of a rigorous four year experience, around talented peers, with a liberal arts component is meaningful, for others, not at all. Good luck though.</p>
<p>“Indeed, I knew they could never see past the financial “return on investment” element of higher education”</p>
<p>I’m sorry, Chicagoalum. Life is never simple, and family dynamics can just be … something. I think, for the most part, parents want to do the right thing (a nebulous concept in itself), but then life and responsibilities and fear of the future step in. And your folks could be right, and we could be silly. Oh, well.</p>
<p>Chicagoalum, sorry if this is a personal question, but did you indeed find the financial stability and the comfortable life after college or were your parents essentially right in doubting the monetary value of spending 50k a year for uchicago.</p>
<p>Things have worked out fine. However, only because I was able to get one of my graduate degrees in very high paying field, having further entered the program straight out of college. Additionally, I took four courses every quarter, and two in the summer while working full time, to graduate in three years. Had I taken time off, I probably would have defaulted on my loans at a minimum or worse declared bankruptcy. As it is, when I switch to my new job in June, everything beyond my basic living expenses be going to the man for three to five years. </p>
<p>All in all though I do not regret going to an elite college, which is pretty much a nonnegotiable requirement for employers in my line of work. Yet, if I knew then what I know now, I would have instead taken in state tuition at Berkeley for engineering, and consequently halved my debt load. I am definitely not of the mentality like some posters on this board that Chicago is unique vis-à-vis most selective colleges (unless you go out of your way to make it so).</p>
<p>Things have worked out fine. However, only because I was able to get one of my graduate degrees in very high paying field, having further entered the program straight out of college. Additionally, I took four courses every quarter, and two in the summer while working full time, to graduate in three years. Had I taken time off, I probably would have defaulted on my loans at a minimum or worse declared bankruptcy. As it is, when I switch to my new job in June, everything beyond my basic living expenses be going to the man for three to five years. </p>
<p>All in all though I do not regret going to an elite college, which is pretty much a nonnegotiable requirement for employers in my line of work. Yet, if I knew then what I know now, I would have instead taken in state tuition at Berkeley for engineering, and consequently halved my debt load. I am definitely not of the mentality like some posters on this board that Chicago is unique vis-à-vis most selective colleges (unless you go out of your way to make it so).</p>
<p>As for my parents, we only exchange pleasantries once a month by phone or email, so I cannot really say what they think of my educational and career outcomes.</p>
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<p>A brief email note that let’s them know you would have accepted the admission offer by now but you received the award and it has made it a more difficult decision for you. Let them know that you love Chicago, and would chose it in a heartbeat if the money was not such a big issue. </p>
<p>Whereas the full tuition awards are few and far between, there are more $10,000 (per/yr) awards.</p>
<p>alright, I sent a little email to my admissions counselor informing her of my situation. My dad and I are going to call the financial aid office tomorrow morning to explain our financial situation with the family farm.</p>
<p>Fingers crossed for you!</p>
<p>Accept the idea of going to CC (especially since you like it) but do call the finaid office at Chicago, explain your situation, say that you would love to go, but without financial aid, you simply cannot. You have absolutely nothing to lose - why does it matter if they ‘hate it’?</p>
<p>Edit: I should read the thread completely first.</p>
<p>Well, I finally called. They basically said it’s definitely not promising. We have way too many assets.</p>
<p>So now I’m trying to get excited about Colorado College while leaving this little (tiny tiny tiny) bit of hope for a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>I don’t think that FAFSA, PROFILE or financial aid people understand about <em>weather</em> and farming (to say nothing of farming and Congress, or commody prices and farming). Oh, well, they’re not listening to us. </p>
<p>Fortunately, Colorado College not going to be too hard to get excited about! It’s a wonderful school, and you are going to do great there (or at Chicago, if a merit scholarship appears).</p>
<p>Fortunately, those who decide on F.A. and those who decide on merit awards are not the same.</p>
<p>Bartleby nailed it above:</p>
<p>Be sensible, don’t be pushy, but if you really do want to go to Chicago, get in contact with them and tell them your situation. Say you’d prefer to go to Chicago, but it’s financially untenable for the reasons you said.</p>
<p>WHO CARES WHAT CHICAGO THINKS? They can tell you to go screw yourself and you can go to Colorado College on full merit scholarship. Or they can tell you they’ll throw money your way.</p>
<p>I can absolutely understand your wanting to go to Chicago, but the fact is most people I know find people who come out of top LACs (and CC is there) better prepared for their post-baccalaureate academic futures than the graduates of top, larger universities. Huge generalization, but there it is.</p>
<p>Unless Chicago gets pretty close to full ride, I’d go with CC (happily).</p>
<p>Blindkite,
Your choice is not a large, bureaucratic, sometimes impersonal state U full ride vs. full pay at UChicago. Your choice is a full ride at a small, private college with a great reputation vs. full pay at Chicago. </p>
<p>I absolutely hear you about FA. We pay 10% of our income in out-of-pocket medical expenses (and that’s not changing due to a chronic medical situation), and we have gotten nowhere. Curmudgeon also had a hard time dealing with FA offices about his farm and FA. It totally stinks.</p>
<p>My son had a similar choice last year. He received close to a full ride at Michigan and received the Honor Scholarship at Chicago ($10k) per year. The difference in cost between the two was going to be about $25k per year, but we gave him the choice - with one caution. If he went to Michigan, there would be extra money for study abroad, spring break trips, unpaid internships, etc. If he went to Chicago, none of the above. We were not trying to bribe him, just laying out the financial realities. In the end, he chose Michigan and is very happy there in a theoretical math program. He just got back from Utah skiing with friends and is headed to Florence in the spring for study abroad. He really thinks he made the right choice and would still like to head to Chicago for grad school.</p>
<p>What is the grad experience like? Everyone tells me I can go to UChicago for grad school, but that is a completely different thing. I mean, I’d still love to, but I don’t feel like the experience is comparable.</p>
<p>Well, many years ago I attended grad school at Chicago. At that time the US Army was running ads that said, “Not just a job, an adventure.” I remember a t-shirt at the time that aptly described grad life by borrowing the phrase and changing it to: “U of C Grad School: Not just a job, an indenture.” </p>
<p>Having said that, it was perhaps the most intellectually fulfilling and exciting time of my life, except, perhaps, when one took a course and found there were undergrads registered, they would work just too hard and make it tougher on all of us. I enjoyed being a TA and supervising undergrads in our lab; we had fun.</p>
<p>be worried with debt for a couple decades of your life, or forever regret not experiencing chicago</p>
<p>i agree with a couple previous posts… you could try for chicago for business school. that is taking a risk though.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your scholarship! I would humbly suggest you go where the scholarship money is being offered (Colorado College), especially since it is such a wonderful school in a beautiful location. The added bonus of more disposable $$ will allow for additional opportunities that you might not have if you were strapped for cash. In practical terms, loads of debt for an undergraduate degree is usually not worth it, provided you still attend a strong school like CC. A graduate degree more often yields a return worth incurring debt to earn. I have heard it said that as wonderful as the University of Chicago is for undergraduate work, it is just that much better for graduate study. </p>
<p>I was accepted to the University of Chicago for graduate school back in the 1980s and turned them down since the funding wasn’t there. I still remember what my mom said to me, “Just being admitted is a feather in your cap.” (I still have my acceptance letters, one from the admissions office and one from the School of Social Sciences.) So, I take my feathered cap off to you for being admitted! Best of luck in making this difficult decision.</p>