Visiting Undergraduate Summer Students

Visiting Undergraduate and Graduate Students may apply for aid awarded through their home institution – check with your school’s financial aid office to see if this is available. The UChicago Office of Financial Aid cannot process awards for non-degree students.

Summer Language Institute

Need-Based Aid

The Summer Language Institute has a limited amount of financial aid to help defray the cost of attendance for some visiting students who demonstrate financial need. To be considered for these need-based financial aid awards, all application materials and financial aid form must be completed in your application status page. We will review all aid applications received by the priority aid deadline of April 16, 2021. Please note that we anticipate only being able to make aid offers to a portion of financial aid applicants.

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships

The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program is administered by the federal government for American graduate students who are concentrating in a modern foreign language and a program that includes international or area studies. Students from other universities may apply FLAS funds awarded at their home institution to eligible Summer Language Institute courses, and may receive additional scholarship aid from SLI to cover the difference between SLI tuition costs and your FLAS award. Contact the Summer Session office at summersession@uchicago.edu for more information. 

Summer Financial Math

Summer Financial Math also has a limited amount of financial aid to help defray the cost of attendance for some visiting students who demonstrate financial need. To be considered for these need-based financial aid awards, all application materials and financial aid form must be completed in your application status page.

Non-UChicago students admitted to any undergraduate program in Summer 2021 will be required to pay a non-refundable $1000 deposit within one week of admission.

For Summer Quarter and Summer Language Institute students, the remaining balance of charges will be billed in June 2021, with payment due in July. 

Summer Quarter and Summer Language Institute courses

• Enrolled students can drop a three- or five-week Summer Session course through Friday of the first week of the course.
• Enrolled students can drop a six-, seven-, or eight-week Summer Session course through Friday of the second week of the course.

Visiting undergraduate students who drop a course by the relevant deadline will not be billed for their course, but will not be refunded their $1,000 deposit (all deposits are non-refundable).

Requests to drop a course submitted after the drop deadline (11:59pm CST of the dates listed below) will be processed as a course withdrawal, which means:

• a “W” will appear as the course grade and
• 100% of tuition will be billed

The application for visiting students is now open! Click here to start your application. 

For all Summer Session undergraduate offerings, your online application is considered complete when the following materials have been received:

• Personal Profile
• Program and Course Selection
• Transcript for undergraduate career
• Test Scores (optional for domestic students)
  • International students are required to submit Duolingo English Test, TOEFL, or IELTS scores (see International Students page for details). A copy of the entire report should be provided, not just the final score. 
• Additional Academic Information is required for applications to programs or courses in Computer Science, Math, Physics, and related fields of study that have academic prerequisites. 
• Application Fee

Admitted students for any program must confirm attendance by submitting a $1,000 non-refundable program deposit within seven days of the release of their admissions decision. Students will not be registered for courses or programs until this initial deposit is received. 

2021 Visiting Student Application Deadlines

• Regular Deadline: March 31, 2021
• Extended Deadline: April 30, 2021
• Rolling Admissions: May 1 - May 15, 2021

Claim your CNET ID after May 1 (you will receive you UChicago ID within a week of admission):

• To create a CNET ID, you will need:
  • your 8-digit UChicago ID number
  • access to a device (usually a cell phone) that will be used to set up two-factor authentication (2FA)
  • the Duo Mobile app, or other 2FA app
• Go to https://cnet.uchicago.edu/claimacct/index.jsp
• Need help with CNET ID set up? Call 773-702-5800 M-F 7:30am to 6:00pm Central US time, email itservices@uchicago.edu, or submit a Help Ticket with UChicago IT Services.

Claim your Zoom account by June 10.  All registered students must activate their Zoom account to be able to participate in their course. Students must use their official UChicago account to join class meetings; you will not be able to enter meeting rooms using a personal Zoom account, or one that is associated with your regular school.

• Go to https://uchicagostudents.zoom.us/  to activate your account
• Need help with setting up your Zoom account? Call 773-702-5800 M-F 7:30am to 6:00pm Central US time, email itservices@uchicago.edu, or submit a Help Ticket with UChicago IT Services.

Download Cisco AnyConnect to use UChicago VPN (virtual private network), which is needed to access UChicago Library databases. Students residing in China will need to use VPN to access Zoom and Canvas.

• For a general overview of UChicago VPN and a list of download links, visit the Virtual Private Network (VPN) Overview page.
• For more VPN information, visit the VPN FAQ page.
• Just need a download? Go to https://vpn.uchicago.edu/  to download the AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client application.
• Need help with VPN? Call 773-702-5800 M-F 7:30am to 6:00pm Central US time, email itservices@uchicago.edu, or submit a Help Ticket with UChicago IT Services.

Visit your course Canvas account. Login with your CNET ID at https://canvas.uchicago.edu/login   All Summer Session Canvas sites will be available no later than one week before the first day of your course.  

• Need help with Canvas? Email canvas@uchicago.edu or call 773-702-9944 M-F 8:30am to 4:00pm Central US time.

All Summer Session students new to the University of Chicago should visit https://learningremotely.uchicago.edu/getting-started/    Here you will find information on how to use Zoom, Canvas, and other technical information.

We strongly recommend you read through the information on this website and to test your access to Zoom and to your course’s Canvas site at least one week before your course starts, so that you are not delayed from participating on the first day of class.

Use this link to order course books from the U of C Bookstore, starting June 1:

 https://uchicago.bncollege.com/shop/uchicago/page/find-textbooks

You will need to look up your books to order by course number (available at summer.uchicago.edu or my.uchicago.edu). If your course does not have any books to purchase listed on the bookstore website, then your all of your course readings will be uploaded to Canvas or available via electronic reserve through the library.

You are strongly encouraged to order digital editions. The bookstore has requested digital editions wherever possible. In the cases where course materials could not be made available in digital form, the cost of domestic shipping of physical editions to students will be covered by the bookstore, and the Summer Session Office will cover the cost of shipping physical editions abroad to international students. (Shipping costs will not be covered if digital editions are available, but you elect to order physical editions.) Students who need physical books shipped outside the U.S. should use the bookstore's address (970 E. 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637) as their shipping address, which will prompt bookstore staff to reach out for their actual address, and then bill charges to the university.

Students with any questions or concerns about ordering books should reach out to the bookstore directly at bksuchicago@bncollege.com.

Bear in mind that all outlets, including Amazon, are experiencing shipping delays right now, so please do not assume that you can get physical books quickly from any source. Also, bear in mind that goods shipped outside the U.S. can sit in Customs for an undue length of time. Please use digital resources for your course materials wherever you can, and order any physical books from the bookstore as soon as possible, starting June 1.

All Summer Session students will have access to remote library resources. Click below to review specific information.

• Student Learning at the Library - A general overview of information for students on library resources.
• Course Reserves - Information for students on how to use the Library’s course reserve services.
• How to Connect to Library Resources Remotely - Click here for more information and to view a brief YouTube video that provides directions on how to connect to library resources from off-campus.
• Need help? Contact the Ask a Librarian service at https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/research/help/ask-librarian/ 

Summer Business Scholars and Summer Financial Math Programs

• A full housing and dining package is included in the Program Fee for these programs. 
• Students in these programs will be housed in a residential hall that houses UChicago undergraduates during the regular academic year. 
• The dining package provides Maroon dollars, a flexible spending option that can be used in the summer dining hall, or in a wide variety of retail cafes on campus. 
• Students living in residence will be supervised by Residential Assistants who will organize study breaks as well as excursions into the city of Chicago. All ticketed excursions organized by Summer Session staff are included in the Program Fee. 

Summer Quarter and Summer Language Institute

• Housing is available on campus; make sure to fill out the Housing form in your Summer Session program application.
• Students can move in to their designated residence hall the Sunday before their classes start, but no earlier. They must check out of the residence hall by 9 a.m. on the Saturday after their classes end. For example, if your last class is on Friday, July 10, then you must check out of the hall by 9 a.m. on Saturday, July 11. All Summer Session students must be checked out of the hall by 9 a.m. on August 31.
• Summer Session cannot provide storage for students’ belongings before the scheduled check in or after check-out.

Booking Travel

For those students traveling by air to UChicago, please be sure to book travel no later than three weeks before start of session, using these important guidelines:

• Flights must be booked to arrive and depart on designated Arrival and Departure Days. See specific program pages for information on specific dates by program. UChicago Summer Session is not able to provide housing for students who arrive before their designated Arrival Day, or depart after their designated Departure Day.
• Departure Day is the day after the last class day. Students may depart the evening of the last day of class if they so choose; however, flights should be booked to depart after 8:00pm, so that there is adequate time to leave campus without missing any part of class.
• Students traveling by air who choose to arrange their own transportation to and from campus may fly into either O’Hare International Airport (ORD) or Midway International (MDW).
• If students opt into the UChicago Summer Session Shuttle service, all flights must be booked into O’Hare International Airport

Getting to Campus

Students have several options available to get to campus on Arrival Day.

Taxis

Taxis from O’Hare airport to the UChicago campus will cost approximately $60-65. Taxis from Midway airport are approximately $20-25.

Ride Shares (Uber, Lyft, Curb)

Students 18 year and older may opt to use a ride-share service. Note that by citywide policy, those under 18 cannot utilize a ride-share service unless accompanied by someone 18 or older.

Travel Times Between Campus and Airports

By car, it may take (depending on time of day):

• 1 to 2 hours to travel between UChicago campus and O’Hare International Airport.
• 30 to 45 minutes to travel between UChicago campus and Midway International Airport.

By law in the state of Illinois, students must have proof of the following immunizations to participate in UChicago Summer Session residential programs:

Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR)

• Vaccines for MMR must be given on or after 12 months of age (on or after the student’s first birthday).
• Two Measles (Rubeola) vaccines, separated by at least 28 days.
• For measles vaccines given before 1968, proof must be submitted that a live virus vaccine was administered.
• History of disease is not acceptable as proof of immunity for Rubella. Titers are required for proof of immunity in those who have a history of disease.
• Students born on or before January 1, 1957 will not have to provide immunity for MMR.

Tetanus/Diphtheria/Pertussis (DTP, DPT, DT, DTaP, Td or Tdap)

• All students must show proof of vaccination of three dose dates for Tetanus/Diphtheria/Pertussis immunization.
• One dose must be Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis) vaccine.
• One dose must have been received within 10 years prior to the term of current enrollment.
• Tetanus Toxoid is not acceptable in fulfilling this requirement.

Meningococcal (Menactra MCV4, Menomune MPSV4, Menveo)

• Required for all new students under the age of 22.
• One dose must have been given on or after 16th birthday.

If students do not have all the required immunizations, they will be able to get them at the UChicago Student Health Clinic or at specially scheduled Summer Immunization Clinics during their program.

Students enrolled in Summer Session programs at the University of Chicago receive accident and sickness insurance through AIG Personal Accident Insurance. This coverage lasts for the duration of a student’s summer program, i.e., the coverage begins on the first day of the summer program and ends on the last day of participation in the program.

What type of coverage is this?

This plan should be viewed as two complementary forms of insurance:

1. medical insurance coverage for accidents, injuries, and/or illness, and
2. travel assistance coverage for emergency evacuation or repatriation services.

Please note that if a student has a chronic condition (e.g., asthma, diabetes, etc.) this insurance will only cover incidents that occur while they are participating in the UChicago summer program. It will not cover routine medicines or therapies needed to manage a chronic condition.

How does a student use this insurance policy?

If a student has an accident or becomes ill while participating in the UChicago Summer Session program, they should first seek care at the on-campus Student Health Service or Student Counseling Service. Information about locations and hours can be found at wellness.uchicago.edu.

If a student is then referred to a specialist or needs a specific procedure (e.g., labs or X-rays), they will need to show their AIG insurance card as proof that they have accident and sickness insurance. Be sure to write the student’s name on the card in advance.

If these on-campus clinics are closed or unavailable at the time a student needs care, Summer Session residential staff will escort the student to either an immediate care clinic to receive care, or to an Emergency Department at the University of Chicago Medical if the situation is more serious. Residential students over 18 may seek care on their own, but are encouraged to reach out for assistance to residential staff at any time. Providing this kind of support is part of all residential staff members’ roles, and since the majority of program staff are students at UChicago, they are familiar with the facilities.

What if a student already has insurance?

If a student has insurance from home that covers them in Chicago for the duration of their summer program, that insurance will be considered their “primary” insurance. When they seek care, they should show their insurance card for this primary coverage. The AIG accident and sickness insurance provided by UChicago will be considered “excess” insurance for students who already have insurance coverage.

Where can I get more information about this policy?

For a detailed list of the coverage and exclusions under this policy, visit https://wellness.uchicago.edu/student-insurance/summer-insurance

If I have questions, who should I contact?

For questions about accident and sickness insurance benefits, please call AIG at 1-800-551-0824, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. For non-urgent, general inquiries, please email studentinsurance@lists.uchicago.edu

Chicago weather in the summer can fluctuate significantly; when packing clothes, make sure you’re prepared for the possibility of high heat (as high as 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit) and humidity as well as inclement weather and potentially chillier evenings.

• Lightweight clothing
• A warmer layer/jacket
• Rain jacket and/or umbrella
• Comfortable walking shoes
• Swim suit, athletic clothing (students will have access to athletic facilities on campus)
• Casual clothing for evenings and weekends
• Classroom-appropriate clothing for daytime
• For Summer FinMath and Summer Business Scholars, bring business-appropriate attire for corporate visits
• Sunscreen and hand sanitizer are strongly recommended

Academic Materials such as notebooks, pens, etc. can be brought from home, or purchased in the UChicago Bookstore. 

• Summer Language Institute and Summer Quarter students can purchase any required textbooks at the UChicago Bookstore or Seminary Co-op.
• Summer FinMath and Summer Business Scholars materials will be provided as part of the program fee. 
• Students should bring their own laptop computer. If you do not have one, there are computers available for student use in the Regenstein Library and other locations on campus. 

Residential Students

Student rooms are provided with linens, and students can exchange for clean linen packs one day each week. However, students who prefer their own linens, more than one pillow, a heavier weight blanket (air-conditioned buildings can be chilly at night) or a larger towel will want to pack accordingly. The program residence has pay-per-use laundry facilities. Summer Session will provide basic laundry detergent, but you will need to provide your own:

• Fabric softener or dryer sheets
• Clothes hangers
• Shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc.