Odyssey Scholarship Increase

Colleges & Universities University of Chicago
1

<p>[Scholarships</a> | The University of Chicago College Admissions](<a href=“http://collegeaid.uchicago.edu/types/scholarships.shtml]Scholarships”>http://collegeaid.uchicago.edu/types/scholarships.shtml)</p>

<p>“Beginning with the 2012-13 academic year, new students from families with total income less than $75,000 will receive an Odyssey Scholarship in the amount of $3,500. Students from families with incomes between $75,000 and $90,000, will receive an Odyssey Scholarship in the amount of $1,750.”</p>

<p>I don’t know when this new policy was announced, but it appears that starting with this year’s class, Odyssey Scholarships will increase in scope. Before this year, students with families making under $60k got all loans replaced with grants, and those between $60-$75k income got half replaced with grants. With the new policy, students under $75k have all loans replaced with grants, and those between $75-$90k get half.</p>

<p>Further indication of success on the financial aid front! This should certainly have an impact on yield as well, I’d imagine. It makes me glad to see developments such as this, since financial aid is something that the University needs to keep improving. While other universities are retracting their aid policies due to the economic climate, UChicago keeps pushing forward.</p>

2

<p>It appears to me that they have actually decreased the Odyssey Scholarship, not increased it. While previous Odyssey scholars had <em>all</em> loans replaced with grants, now they only get up to $3,500 to replace loans. For example, someone who received $5,000 dollars in loans would not get everything replaced with grants by the Odyssey scholarship.</p>

3

<p>That seems to be the case, unless the expected loan contribution of $5,000 was also lowered.</p>

4

<p>No one has ever had an expected loan contribution of $5,000. Your loan expectation as a low-income student is never more than $3500, which is why Odyssey scholarships are worth $3500. To reiterate the point, it is written on the Scholarship page: “There are two levels of Odyssey Scholarships; one which replaces the student’s need to borrow and one which reduces their loan obligation by half.” This policy has not changed.</p>

<p>So Odyssey scholarships are increasing substantially, and will give an extra $1750 worth of financial aid to students whose families make between $60k-90k. Financial aid is finally expanding into the upper middle class, an extremely positive development for the College.</p>