<p>does NYU really have the worst financial aid program?
could someone tell me if its mostly loans and why its so bad?</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s the WORST, but it’s certainly not good for quite a few reasons. First, NYU’s endowment–the money it gets from alumni donations–is pitifully small when you consider the fact that about 10000 (if not more) students graduate every year. Second, the fact that NYU is in NYC means that everything, from property taxes to rents (since some of the buildings are leased) to employee salaries to food for events, is going to be very expensive, so even if someone does donate, say, $100000, it’s not going to go nearly as far as it would at a school in the middle of nowhere. Third, NYU is HUGE, and all that size (in terms of number of students, number of buildings, etc.) is costly, particularly since the administration doesn’t seem to have any plans to stop expanding or to cut down on class sizes. Fourth, NYU is very aggressive in recruiting professors, and it does so by offering great salaries and lavish perks like uptown penthouse apartments. The strategy does work, as evidenced by its success for NYU Law, but applied to the whole university, it ends up depleting a lot of resources. Fifth, the study abroad sites all have to be maintained; it’s the same as if all the Ivies (give or take some students/area) were pulling from the same pool of money to maintain their campuses. There are other reasons, but those are the ones I can think of for now.</p>
<p>The unfortunate thing, of course, is that despite rising tuition costs, students are still applying to NYU and attending even without any financial aid. Even though I don’t think NYU is being malicious in response, these students’ actions DO prop up the system by reinforcing the idea that NYU can continue to function while not improving its financial aid resources.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that no one gets financial aid. I, for example, attended NYU mostly because they gave me the most money. It wasn’t a full scholarship, but it was damn near close, and the only expense that really hurt was housing. A decent number of people get scholarships they don’t have to pay back. As for loans, well, those are certainly more common here, which I think is what freaks people out so much (on top of the high tuition). The amount of loans you’ll have to take out is definitely something to take into consideration, especially in this economy and with the fact of the ever-decreasing value of a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>I honestly believe that college is going to cost about the same no matter where you apply. I’m about to go to NYU as a freshman, and my main concern was financial aid. I ended up getting more than full tuition in NYU scholarships. NYU is going to cost me about $5000 a year, with one outside scholarship worth a thousand dollars and only Perkins and subsidized Stafford loans. NYU is actually costing me around $300 less than Rutgers, my state school. </p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, if you really need the money, they will give it to you.
Also, a hint if you apply - call financial aid and appeal your award package RIGHT when you get it. I did early decision and we had some financial troubles during the time when my expected award came and my final award came. The problem is, that ED kids get their package about a month later than RD kids. So when I called to appeal my final package, there wasn’t much money left for me and, despite my household income being almost cut in half, I only got $1500 more in scholarship. So call ASAP.</p>
<p>First, I’ve also heard that NYU doesn’t have good financial aid and I’m glad to find out why. AbbyP, I don’t mean to be argumentative, but it really sounds to me like you are speaking very much from you own personal experience. Colleges do not cost the same where ever you go. Harvard, Princeton, Yale give much more to the middle class than the other schools. In all fairness they can because of their huge endowments and the other schools can’t compete on the same level. And to say that they’ll give you the money if you really need it, what does that mean? Our family thinks we really need the money, they don’t. Who’s to say who is right? Just the fact that Harvard, Yale and Princeton give so much more aid to a middle class family than any other school tells you that the idea of what a family needs is a very subjective one.</p>
<p>Fin aid at NYU is pretty strange. They actually met my EFC, which is surprising, because my friend got the same amount of money as I did and her EFC is half of mine. I got a pretty big scholarship, some grant money, workstudy, and loans. The rest my parents can pay off, it will not be easy, but its doable. </p>
<p>btw: the calling thing really works. I appealed right after I got it and I got $2500 more. NYU seems to give a lot of appeal money to people.</p>
<p>if you have the grades, they’ll give you a decent amount of merit based scholarships.</p>