How Financial Aid Helped Me
When it came down to me choosing between two colleges, I ended up choosing DePaul and one of the main reasons is because of how much financial aid I was offered. DePaul offers scholarship money when you are accepted into the school, and that was what really helped me.
After I factored this into how much I had to pay out of pocket, I realized that the other school I was looking at cost as much with financial aid as DePaul would have cost without financial aid, so DePaul was the more affordable option for the qualities it has. I ended up getting around $41K with just scholarship money.
After the money that the school offered me, I factored in what I got from the government through FAFSA. Although I didn’t get too much from them, filling out the FAFSA form made me eligible for all the other scholarships that DePaul offered, as well as external ones. They can be found at https://depaul.academicworks.com/ and there’s tons of different scholarships based on your major, career path, ethnicity, etc. Talking to a financial aid advisor also helped me when I was confused with what certain financial terms meant or when I didn’t know how much I had to pay compared to how much my parents had to pay.
Lastly, I got a little bit more financial aid money through the EDGE program, which I first heard about when I emailed the financial aid office a letter of appeal for more aid. The EDGE program allows first-year students to build their career and networking skills while working with a team in a DePaul department towards a specific goal. Last year, I worked with the housing department to create social media content and it was so much fun. It only took 2-3 hours a week and I got $3,100 for the year!
Overall, DePaul is great with financial aid, whether it be giving scholarships or award money or helping you understand the whole financial process. They treat you like they really want you here, because they do!
~Saira