Hello! NYU is my dream school & I would honestly do anything in my power to go there. It’s just that my family cannot afford it unfortunately. I am very frustrated because I have worked very hard in high school and maintained a 4.0 GPA & all I want is to go to the school of my dreams. If anyone has any tips on any scholarships you recommend I apply for or ANYTHING I can do to get some money to go to NYU that would be greatly appreciated. I am also Hispanic & an NHRP finalist just in case that helps. My other choices are Northeastern & Boston University, which are great and I like them, but my dream is NYU.
A 4.0 GPA is not uncommon.
What are ACT, SAT scores (and PSAT).
How much can your parents pay each year for 4 years?
What is your projected FAFSA EFC?
Have you applied to a financial safety school (affordable and you are willing to attend)?
I recommend you find a school or two you like AND your family can afford without assuming a lot of debt and then, after graduating, consider a move to the Big Apple. Or find some NYC schools where you may be eligible for merit money.
We all have dreams, but sometimes you have to play the Long Game to achieve them. There is much to learn along the way.
What are some specifics about what you like about NYU? What is your career goal after college? What state do you live in now? Have you ever visited NYU? What major would you choose at NYU?
Here are your stats. In my opinion, these are not going to garner you significant merit aid at any of these three schools. You are talking about applying ED2 to NYU. I would very strongly suggest you NOT do this. You have very significant financial issues…and NYU does not guarantee to meet full need. Your SAT is your weak link, as you know, but your GPA is just like any other strong applicant.
Northeastern, NYU and BU are all very expensive universities. Have you run the net price calculators for these schools? If your parents are married to each other, they are not self employed or own a business…and your family doesn’t own real estate other than your primary residence…the net price calculator should be accurate. Will your parents pay the net price the NPC gives?
What will your parents pay? What is their annual income. Their annual income plus assets determines need based aid. But NYU and BU do not guarantee to meet full need…and they don’t. Northwestern guarantees to meet full need…but I’m not positive you will get acceoted there.
I think you need to start thinking outside the box. There are plenty of other colleges in the greater NYC and Boston areas which would be less costly to you.
And do NOT apply ED anything to a school you know you can’t afford.
NYU does not guarantee to meet full need…and they don’t. The school cost of attendance is $70000 a year. It’s only going to go up while you are there. Their need based aid is usually lacking in the tens of thousands of dollars. Their need based and merit aid awards are used to lure students who they really want to have attend.
BU also doesn’t meet full need. I personally think they are a tad better with need based aid…but we don’t know your need. Still, I would wager that you aren’t going to see a huge amount of merit aid,mand less need based than you would need to attend.
Northeastern does meet full need. This just began two years ago, and the competitiveness of the applicants has risen. Your SAT score is not highly comoetitve for this school…it’s in the mix…but it’s not near the top. They award merit aid to the top %age of applicants. I doubt you will be in that pool. This school should be viewed as a reach for you.
All three schools require the CSS Profile and the FAFSA for need based aid purposes.
So…what will your parents pay annually for you to attend college …and I don’t mean in loans they or you take. What will they pay from current earnings and savings.
ETA…you also say you want to go law school. That being the case…you need to attend undergrad school with as little debt as possible…because you will have tons of debt for law school.
There is no outside source that is going to pay for NYU for you, unless you applied for GMS and were selected.
NYU will not give you much aid.
You’ll have lots of dreams throughout your life…some may come true, many will not…particularly ones that involve lots of money. That’s life.
You want to go to law school. That will require lots of debt. Many lawyers are struggling to get adequate paying jobs and are drowning in huge law school debt. For that reason alone, you won’t also want undergrad debt.
Hopefully your family is wise enough not to cosign loans for schools like BU or NYU.
News flash to all hard-working high school kids: Great, you worked hard. That’s what you were supposed to do. That doesn’t translate into a going to a dream school.
College is not a prize you win. We all have many things in life we can’t afford. It is not worth a lot of debt to fixate one college. Open your horizons. Please research ‘meets full need’ colleges, if your family can pay institutional EFC. Otherwise research schools with merit packages for your profile. Sure apply to the schools you name but make sure you have realistic offers for next spring.
It should be noted…the OP says he is eligible for a $20,000 or $30,000 scholarship at BU. That still leaves $40,000 plus that the OP would need to pay himself. Where is that money going to come from?
This poster NEEDS financial aid…from what I’ve read on his other posts. That being the case, he would be wise to apply regular decision to a variety of colleges so he can compare final net price offers.
Save NYU for Law School. Live your dream then.
Boston Univ has a $20k award for NHRP. However, his SAT score is low for the school, so admissions is iffy. It is 9% Hispanic (not counting int’ls), so I don’t know if being Hispanic will be much of a nudge with scores in the lower quartile. However, it is heavy female, so being male might help.
But…how much will the family pay?
$20,000 at BU leaves about a $40,000 balance. Even if the student gets full Pell, and takes the full Direct Loan…that would still leave $28,000 or so balance to pay.