Class of 2021 (sharing, venting, etc)

College Majors Musical Theater Major
4301

@soozievt I’ve had NYU’s financial aid/ merit aid situation explained to me by two different department heads and the financial aid office.

Based on your EFC/ CSS profile you are placed in one of two “piles.” Those with an EFC ABOVE the cost of admission ($73K + for Tisch, $68K + for other schools) are in one pile and would only be considered for non-need based aid. Those with an EFC that is at all UNDER the cost of admission, are based in the need-based pile. (Figuratively speaking, of course.)

All NYU students–across all schools and majors-- are considered for MLK scholarships which are given to students from both the need-based or non-need based piles. There are also woman in science, Intel and NYC resident scholarships that are both need- and non-need based. But in total, these are given to maybe a hundred or so students.

Other than that, the piles do not share scholarships. Unfortunately, for most of the schools, there are no other non-need based scholarships. Tisch is one of those schools. Without any need, you won’t be considered for any other scholarship money.

For Steinhardt, there are non-need based talent merit scholarships. So if you are in that non-need pile and applied to NYU for Music or Art, they do give non-need based talent scholarships (to RD applicants only). My older D was awarded a non-need based music scholarship in VP for $11k a year.

Students who do have some need, receive financial aid in different forms, in different packages, from all of the schools in NYU across all majors. Most packages will have one or two named scholarship in it, as well as other money that may be listed as financial aid. Unless your EFC changes dramatically, these awards remain constant over the 4 years. If there were to be a necessary change in need, the financial aid part would change before the named scholarship. I can’t remember what the allowance is for increased income, but they do allow for and expect salary to go up over the 4 years (and so does tuition.)

In the past there were more non-need based scholarships at NYU, including talent and “Scholars” ones at Tisch. And academic ones and “Scholars” ones at Steinhardt.

I know this so well because the year my D attended she was supposed to get an academic non-need based scholarship from the Music department. But through a policy change that was not communicated to the Music department, that scholarship was eliminated. So the head of the department had requested D to receive the academic scholarship–and when we got her offer she received nothing. When I called to ask about $, financial aid suggested i call the department head because they saw what had happened. He had to petition the school for a non-need talent scholarship for D, because he had already awarded all that money out. So it was resolved, but in the process I learned about the whole system. :slight_smile:

4302

@uskoolfish thank you so much for explaining that

4303

Thank you, @mtmamma2020! I’m so happy for your D, and to come over to your side of the process. Tomorrow we are having a sharing-info dinner with a friend who’s son is a junior and about the start the journey. I wouldn’t trade places with them for anything! I know that for some MT applicants BOCO seems to be too large a program and/or too small a school, but for others it’s just the place! My D attended their summer program last summer and loved all her teachers and was pretty much in heaven. And she already loved Boston, so for her it’s truly a dream come true. We feel deeply grateful for this acceptance today.

4304

It’s a no from BOCO for my daughter. Makes our decision easy now!

4305

When it comes to need-based aid, schools that also require the CSS Profile may determine need a bit differently than what the FAFSA spits out in a standard, income-based EFC. So there can be surprises based on the CSS which also considers assets as well as the income and assets of non-custodial parents should that apply which I don’t believe the FAFSA takes into consideration.

The lesson is, don’t own your own home, nor save and please do blow your hard-earned savings on fancy cars and elaborate vacations years before applying to college. Or… don’t do any of these things, save carefully and have assets for future security. Have faith that the need-based aid you wished you qualified for based on EFC income is mostly going to hard working people that couldn’t save and who can’t easily qualify for nor service loans, but share the same hopes and dreams for their children. It’s not a perfect system but hopefully it’s mostly a just one.

4306

@uskoolfish Thank you for your explanation.

The thing is, both my kids qualified for need-based aid. BUT for my daughter who went to Brown, the aid, where they meet 100% of need, shifts in amount each year based on FAFSA and CSS profiles. For example, D1 got a lot more aid starting in her second year in terms of need-based scholarships (the Ivy League has NO merit aid), because D2 started college and we had two in school, for example. Our need went up based on that circumstance.

However, at NYU, if you say that there is no merit mixed into the scholarship part of the FA package, then it sure seems odd that the scholarship part was promised to remain the same for all four years, regardless of shifts in financial need (for example, in Tisch D’s senior year, her older sister was then in graduate school and for FA purposes, colleges don’t consider grad school as a parental expense even though we paid for it). D at Tisch continued to get the Trustee Scholarship (which may no longer exist for all I know) for $20,000 that year again as in the previous 3 years. There was no question whether she would receive it every year, regardless of change in financial need. In fact, as I wrote, she got three additional scholarships for smaller amounts in her senior year at Tisch, and I interpreted those named scholarships (that I believe she wrote thank you notes to), were for merit, as our financial need did not go up. I could be wrong. I hear what you are saying, but her FA did not work like it did for D1 at a totally need only based FA school…Brown, where it can vary year to year based on FA forms submitted each spring.

Also, let’s not confuse this with “Scholars,” a program that NYU/Tisch no longer offers. My D also was selected for Tisch Scholars upon admission. Tisch Scholars is an honor selection based solely on merit and factors like leadership and so on, but not financial need. There is NO money given in Scholars. I bring this up as you mentioned Scholars. Tisch Scholars was a program and there were financial perks including arts related trips, such as my D went with Tisch Scholars to Brazil in her sophomore year. But “Scholars” was not to do with any money to attend NYU.

I realize the amount of scholarship my D got was not something a very large number of kids get at NYU, though some receive it. If it were only need based with no merit, I would find that hard to comprehend, because we were not poor. Surely there were kids who attended from low (or lower) income families and my kid was not in such a situation. We couldn’t afford full pay, but her large scholarship for four years, surely can’t be because she had more need than most applicants.

PS, it has been a long while since I looked at stuff like this on NYU’s site, but I just looked it up and it says:
https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/financial-aid-and-scholarships/scholarships-and-grants.html

Note: my D’s 4 year scholarship, noted above in my comments, called The Trustee Scholarship, is no longer one that is offered, based on the information quoted from NYU’s site. It seems to me, however, that while the majority of aid is geared toward those who have financial need (my D fell into that category), some merit-aid can be mixed into the scholarship amount for such students, as well, for four years.

4307

@soozievt my S’s offer sounds very similar to your daughter’s as well as financial situation.

4308

A big no from BOCO here too…but D is very excited about where she is committing to and I will share soon. Sometimes the path your kids envision in the beginning change slightly along the way

4309

@soozievt Sorry if my answer was confusing. I had a two part answer to @milmom2 . Not sure if your read part 1. In the first part, I explained that on average, NYU meets about 70% of need. However, if they really want you, they will meet more of your need. So yes, I totally agree that there is a “merit” component to how they meet need. NYU will package their financial aid by giving out scholarships with different names (different funding budgets) and those scholarships will be higher or lower based on what percentage of a student’s need they plan to meet. So their financial aid is kind of a hybrid merit/need combo.

The point I was explaining in my second post was that people without need are only considered for just a few university-wide scholarships–the biggest being the MLK scholarship. They may be eligible for some school specific (non-need) merit scholarships as well, which are listed on their financial aid site.

This is copied from the website: https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/aid-and-costs/scholarships.html

“Scholarships and Scholar Programs Offered by NYU Colleges and Schools:
College of Arts and Science
Gallatin School of Individualized Study
Rory Meyers College of Nursing
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
Stern School of Business
Tandon School of Engineering”

You will notice that Tisch isn’t listed because they offer no merit scholarships (without need). If you go on the site and click on the link, the Steinhardt page lists music and art talent scholarships (no need.) It is very possible that “trustees scholarships” still exist for Tisch students, but they are not listed here because they are considered financial aid, not pure merit money.

In the past, all of the schools had Scholars programs, but many of them have been changed or eliminated. In the past when someone was selected for the program (based on academics, leadership etc.), they were given additional scholarship money and took part in other programming and travel. Both of our daughters seemed to miss out on the money component, and now the Tisch program doesn’t exist at all! Steinhardt scholars is still running and offers seminars, special classes and travel stipends, but no additional $. The year my older D was a scholar was the first year they eliminated the money component. She traveled to Mexico. Younger (artist) daughter was in it too… she got to go to Cuba for 9 days for $400.

Hope this helps clarify.

4310

So this is going to sound a bit naive, but when they say a certain percentage of your need is meant are they including those students who qualify for student loans and that amount as part of the “need” met? I do know that in large schools it gets skewed as if they are providing 100 percent of funding for a number of students that skews the average. We also have seen how money can get moved around if you are a “very wanted” student either due to academics, artistic abilities, what part of the world you come from etc. etc.But for most students it ends up being pretty simple calculations.

4311

@uskoolfish Thanks! That dos indeed clarify. So, I think we are saying the same thing. Some who receive need based aid at NYU, may have some merit mixed into that award. There aren’t purely merit awards, except those few specialized ones (which don’t pertain to Tisch School). I was trying to point out that I believe the scholarship my kid got at NYU, and she was a financial aid applicant for need-based aid, had merit mixed into the award, which resulted in a significant four year scholarship, and not due to her needing (on paper) more need aid than most applicants.

I never knew that Scholars (in my D’s case, a Tisch Scholar) ever had money attached. It never did for my D’s four years. It was, however, a wonderful program and the two trips she went on for free, as part of that program, were enriching. Too bad that the program is no longer (at Tisch, anyway).

4312

Came home from work yesterday to a grumpy D. No news from UWSP, seems that friends have been getting their letters…acceptances, rejections and alternates. She’s worried our mailman may have delivered to the wrong address since we’ve been getting the wrong mail and received something postmarked March 16 in the mail yesterday! UGH I thought yesterday would be the last day of this torture! Fingers crossed for that letter to be in our mailbox today!

4313

Can you call the school to find out if it was mailed? So frustrating!

4314

@momtojoss Of course I got home after office hours! We’ll call first thing Monday if nothing today.

4315

I second that advice @ALS0830 , call the school. At this point in the game the excuses for not notifying kids are pretty thin to me . I mean at some point we are fighting the clock and this 11th hr stuff I find unacceptable. I mean we met our duties in this process. We all applied to the schools academically, paid all the MANY fees while blocking out the exhorbant costs of travel etc, submitted prescreens timely for those who did this, set up the auditions and brought our kid to the audition on time and ready, tried to be polite and a mature adult at said auditions ( & at least one school was pushed to the maximum of manner limits), waited patiently for aid info and decision notification all while researching various programs that we were accepted to AGAIN , all while soothing kids who were trying to maintain sanity while being a senior in high school & actually try to enjoy it and also be in their spring musical/ choir festival/ recital etc etc…

SEND OUT THE NOTIFICATIONS!

sorry rant over…

4316

Love that @theaterwork! So true.

4317

Standing ovation @theatrework !

4318

Thank you @theaterwork = you couldn’t have expressed it better! It’s amazing the hoops we have to jump through for the privilege of spending a huge amount of money for a relatively short period of time! I understand the long term benefits but there is a customer service aspect that is missing at some schools - others do a great job!

4319

@theaterwork and others --I kinda wonder if no news could be good news… I think some schools strategically hold back some decisions to back fill after their first round of offers go out and some get turned down. It’s kind of like Texas State’s priority hold system. I think Pace does something like that too, or did in the past. Maybe it’s not the favored system but that could be what you are experiencing. Food for thought.

4320

@Als0830 We got a letter from UWSP after sending multiple emails. The letter said my S is on the waitlist and that they expect to hear back from their first wave of acceptances by April 11. UWSP is the school someone mentioned earlier that asks for a commitment by April 8. That’s how they can bump up waitlisted kids after the 11th. I think the only reason we even got the letter is because we kept asking for a decision. Otherwise, I think they would have just waited until they heard from the first group of offers. I guess it’s because they only have 10 spots fill. Either way, I was very frustrated with their lack of communication.