UChicago will offer free tuition for families with incomes below $250,000

[Anonymous]

https://news.uchicago.edu/story/uchicago-will-offer-free-tuition-families-incomes-below-250000-greatly-expanding?utm_source=uc_linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_content=news

I know, another UChicago post. I’m not the person who published the most recent ones. But I thought it was meaningful to share this.

[Anonymous]

This is great news but of course you have to read the fine print. Hopefully all other elite schools will follow suit.

[Anonymous]

Another empty “with typical assets” promise.

[Anonymous]

All of these claims assume "reasonable assets". We earn far below dc elite school school guarantee of free tuition but we were denied aid. Didn't expect full ride but assumed we would get some aid (yes we did npc). We are not an affluent family and both parents work in non-profit. Every school calculates differently. Home value in high cost of living area and savings made us ineligible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another empty “with typical assets” promise.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these claims assume "reasonable assets". We earn far below dc elite school school guarantee of free tuition but we were denied aid. Didn't expect full ride but assumed we would get some aid (yes we did npc). We are not an affluent family and both parents work in non-profit. Every school calculates differently. Home value in high cost of living area and savings made us ineligible.

Similar experience here.

[Anonymous]

This is great for people who don't live in places where the property values are really though. I went there years ago with an income that's (adjusting for inflation) under that mark and it would have been huge for it to be free. I could just barely afford it with the aid I did have.

[Anonymous]

I'm confused what "typical assets" are expected for a family making $249,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is great for people who don't live in places where the property values are really though. I went there years ago with an income that's (adjusting for inflation) under that mark and it would have been huge for it to be free. I could just barely afford it with the aid I did have.

Are you saying they counted your residential home value toward assets that could be used for tuition? I'm assuming you only have the one house...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great for people who don't live in places where the property values are really though. I went there years ago with an income that's (adjusting for inflation) under that mark and it would have been huge for it to be free. I could just barely afford it with the aid I did have.

Are you saying they counted your residential home value toward assets that could be used for tuition? I'm assuming you only have the one house...

That's the complaint of people talking about "typical assets" isn't it? People talking about "home value in high cost of living areas." Looking it up, it doesn't look like Chicago counts home value, but some places do.

And yes we only had one house and at the time it was not counted as an asset to be used for tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great for people who don't live in places where the property values are really though. I went there years ago with an income that's (adjusting for inflation) under that mark and it would have been huge for it to be free. I could just barely afford it with the aid I did have.

Are you saying they counted your residential home value toward assets that could be used for tuition? I'm assuming you only have the one house...

Schools that count home equity don’t expect you to sell the house, but they do expect you to borrow against whatever equity you have in it.

529 plans also count against you for these purposes, including 529s designated for other children.

Basically if you’d rented and spent the money on travel instead of college savings, your kids would now be going to college for free. But if you saved, you pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these claims assume "reasonable assets". We earn far below dc elite school school guarantee of free tuition but we were denied aid. Didn't expect full ride but assumed we would get some aid (yes we did npc). We are not an affluent family and both parents work in non-profit. Every school calculates differently. Home value in high cost of living area and savings made us ineligible.

High home value should be included. Big difference from a 600k house and a million plus is this area. If you want a nicer house, great but that’s less savings for college. Life choices.

[Anonymous]

This comes on the heels of UChicago pledging to increase their class size because of its structural deficit.

Full pay will be a huge advantage in the coming years to UChicago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is great for people who don't live in places where the property values are really though. I went there years ago with an income that's (adjusting for inflation) under that mark and it would have been huge for it to be free. I could just barely afford it with the aid I did have.

I would assume they’d learn partly look at what you paid and any additional things like a remodel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This comes on the heels of UChicago pledging to increase their class size because of its structural deficit.

Full pay will be a huge advantage in the coming years to UChicago.

Yes. This headline is mostly PR to help hide the fact that Chicago is increasingly pay to play.