University of Chicago?

thumper1
Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:43:00 +0000

The average debt really means NOTHING…it’s an average. You need to use one of the online financial aid calculators using the institutional methodology. This will give you an ESTIMATE of what the colleges might expect your family to contribute annually to your college education. That is a number you need to see and discuss with your family. More important…you need to know how much they are able to contribute each year for your schooling.

There are two kinds of aid…merit which is based on your academic stats (standardized test scores and high school GPA)…and need based which is based on your family’s income (mostly) and assets. Some schools give only need based aid. Some schools give both.

As it happens, UChi does give some scholarship awards. They are very competitive. Most of their aid is need based.

The Stafford loans can total up to $27000 for four years. This might very well be the loan debt of the STUDENT as really the Stafford loans are the only loans students can get in their own names even without need. There are also Perkins Loans which are available to those who qualify based on their income/assets.

BUT what is not included here is what the loan amount the PARENTS might have to take on. For example, if the school computes that your family needs to pay $25,000 a year, but they only have $15,000 in savings or income to contribute, they would need to take an additional $10,000 in loans.

So…run a financial aid calculator using your family’s income and assets. Discuss the finances with your parents…and then go from there.