This fall i plan on applying to my dream school early decision, that claims to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. My mom wont be able to pay anything and my dad wont be able to cover the whole cost, so i will definitely need the school to give me some need-based aid. I am going to do the net price calculator once they come home, but right now im worried that my parents’ EFC will appear higher on paper because ive heard many stories of middle-class families receiving very little aid even at schools with generous financial aid policies.
I have always wanted to go to this school though, so can I still apply ED even though theres no way my parents can afford it? Would i be able to explain my situation and get out of the binding agreement if they dont meet my family’s need?
cilleges will not force financial hardship on a family so yes you can normally get out of an ED agreement. This happens about 20 percent of the time
The NPCs will not work for you because your parents are divorced.
You’ve indicated in another thread that your Stepmom earns a lot of money but won’t be contributing.
You can try running the NPC with your dad and SM’s info, and see what the results are. If the result is more than your dad will pay then you can probably guess that the school won’t be affordable.
Either way, you do not have to accept an ED school if the school isn’t affordable.
that said…you are going to face this problem with nearly all top schools. You need to protect yourself by ALSO applying to a few schools that will give you huge merit for your stats. Those apps ALSO need to be submitted very soon since their scholarship deadlines are in the fall.
You need those schools as your fallback schools in case all your fave schools are unaffordable.
thank you for the help!! my dad is actually an employee at NYU and i would get a large discount, so would it be a good safey plan to apply there for the second early decision deadline in case if i am rejected from the first ed round at my dream school?
Did you ask your dad if NYU will give you a discount? Will that be within the amount he can pay?
yes, they will give a 90% discount so he will definitely be able to pay
Boy, that’s a nice discount. Good for you.
Is there any tuition exchange with your favorite school?
There is a distinction between a family being unable to pay versus not wanting to pay.
no, there isnt a tuition exchange
@TomSrOfBoston well my mom really cant pay and my dad is going to pay as much as he can, so its not that they dont want to.
NYU might not necessarily be a safety for admission, though. Be sure that you have a safety which you have assured admission and assured affordability (e.g. consider the schools in http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ ).
With regard to your first choice school, try the net price calculator including all income and assets from both parents and any new spouses. If the result is clearly unrealistic, and there are no large enough merit scholarships available, it may not be worth applying there at all (much less ED).
The Net Price Calculator for divorced situations will not yield accurate results…and should be used as a very rough estimate only.
If you were my student, I would have you apply ED NYU. The discount is something so many students would be salivating over.
Also need to apply to other financial and admission safety schools.
What is the program that is making the first choice so strong? Or is it the school’s reputation, setting, or something else?
Could it be that the perceived inaccuracy is due to the user often not including all income and assets from both parents and any new spouses that they have? (Of course, bitter divorces may have the ex-spouses trying to hide income and assets from each other in continuing child support and other battles.)
Nope…the perceived inaccuracy is because the NPCs assume the parents are married. The asset protection allowance will be for a married couple, and single parents get MUCH less.
Some folks recommend doing two NPCs. One for the custodial parent and spouse, and the other for the non-custodial parent and spouse. But this is flawed too, because each of those awards will give things like the Direct Loan or any auto merit aid, or any grant money for which the student is eligible. BUT , and it’s a BIG BUT…the student won’t get duplicates of the loans or grants or whatever.
PLUS…the combined incomes of the divorced parents can put the kid above the threshold for institutional need based aid completely.
And lastly, some schools do treat the non-custodial parent OR the step parent income and assets differently. This varies by school.
Sorry…but the NPC for kids of divorced parents…very gross estimate only.
But I do agree with part of what you say…this student should assume that ALL of the income and assets added together will be used for determination of institutional need based aid…all. That would be the worst case scenario.
would it help if the parent who makes less is the custodial parent?
You say the school meets 100% of need? If so, in the very vast majority of cases for these schools, the financial information from BOTH custodial parent and spouse, and non-custodial parent and spouse will be required for institutional need based aid…which is the bulk of the money you will need.
If the student uses the high parents’ income (dad and SM) NPC and THAT result shows an unaffordable amount, then it’s safe to say that processing the FA with divorced parents will not suddenly be affordable.
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my dad is actually an employee at NYU and i would get a large discount, so would it be a good safey plan to apply there for the second early decision deadline in case if i am rejected from the first ed round at my dream school?
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90% off the tuition??? ? Are you certain of that? Make sure that is true. NYU is so cheap that it would be almost shocking to think that it’s 1000s of employees children can get nearly free tuition. Have your dad check for sure.
You need to check again…this is from NYU’s website. I suspect that the 100% is for employees, and the 50% or so is for dependents.
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Tuition Remission is a benefit that waives 50% to 100% of tuition for certain NYU courses taken by full-time, regular employees, their spouses or registered domestic partners, and their dependent children. (Refer to the Tuition Benefits plan documents for your employee code: Faculty or Employee.) <<<
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dependents must also pay all of the course fees (don’t know how much those are at NYU
NYU may not end up being your safety.
Have you asked your dad how much HE WILL pay each year? If not, do that.
It may be for professor’s kids and not for all employees - I know years ago my neighbor had a dad that was a Pathology (MD) Professor at Vanderbilt, and her tuition was discounted 75%. A MD that worked for a Jesuit school and hospital system - his kid did not have to pay tuition at any of the Jesuit UG programs.
Yes, do be certain exactly what NYU would cost based on dad’s employment benefit.