I’m pretty worried about paying for college right now. The schools I want to go to are U of Wa, GW, and NYU. Do any of them offer full rides? How is their financial aid?
Are you in state for Washington?
NYU is notorious for poor financial aid.
@allyphoe nope, OOS
You’re a sophomore in HS without test scores and have already predicted your NMF status?
Focus on your classes now because by the time you apply, funding may have decreased even more.
From yesterday’s post:
Exactly! Before you look at dream schools, you need to check the reality of your parents’ checkbook.
The best aid comes directly from the university itself. Outside scholarships are typically for 1 year and generally for a couple of thousand dollars, if that. Making projections about your scores and assuming NMF status won’t do you any good if you can’t get into the schools and if your parents can’t pay.
UW gives good FA to their residents. In-state.
NYU has poor financial aid but does provide some aid for their residents.
@“aunt bea” I wasn’t predicting NMF at all, it’s just a goal. I am focusing very hard on my classes. I have an idea of what can be paid from my family, but I don’t think that looking for aid or having an ideal college list hurts. From everyone I’ve talked to, having a list of schools to apply to was a good thing. I wasn’t assuming any status, again, it was just a goal, which was stated at the beginning of that thread.
@“aunt bea” sucks about aid at NYU 
i’ll look at the scholarships they offer, same w UW.
Thank you all for the help! I appreciate it 
Your in state publics will most likely be your most affordable options.
It’s pointless to speculate on the rest until you have firm tests scores in hand.
NYU costs well over $70,000 a year…and that’s now. By the time you get there, it could be approaching $80,000 a year. The school does NOT meet full need for all students and their merit aid is used to attract high stats kids who might otherwise go to Ivies or the like.
George Washington is similarly priced…again with limited merit aid, and I don’t think they meet full need either.
University of Washington as an out of state student? Why?
On another thread, you ask for public universities…I would very strongly suggest that you start by looking in your own state. And please…do not say “but I HAVE to get out of my state”.
It’s good to get an idea of colleges you might like, but you also need to have some info for that to be a realistic list.
Here is my free advice. Start looking for sure thing, affordable schools you like FIRST. Then build your list up from there. It’s really easy to find expensive, well known schools. It’s not as easy to find that sure thing.
Talk to your parents NOW about college costs. You need to be very realistic about what they will pay. If their income is high, you also need to understand that need based aid might not be heading your way.
Did you take the PSAT this month? That would at least give you a ball park of what you need to do standardized test score wise.
Oh…and NONE of those schools guarantees a full free ride to any student…even a NMS finalist.
You need to understand, complete FULL rides are not particularly plentiful.
@“aunt bea”
What did you mean by this? NYU is a private school. Residency in any particular state has no bearing on financial aid.
@brantly Probably a reference to the HEOP program.
Low income NYS residents can use state aid (the TAP or Excelsior Grants) at in state schools, but they wouldn’t make much of a dent in NYU’s cost.
I know you have some answers from the thread but have you looked at the financial aid web sites of those schools? Most colleges that offer full rides (or full tuition scholarships for that matter) proudly advertise that on their web sites. They are trying to draw high performing HS grads.
@austinmshauri Excelsior Grants are for SUNY and CUNY schools, of which NYU is neither.
I get it that there are NYS grants, but they are kind of irrelevant to someone looking for a full ride to NYU. NYU, as a university, does not care whether you are a NYS resident or not, irrespective of whether there are grants from the state of New York for its residents. That’s all I was trying to say.
@brantly, I think students who qualify for the Excelsior can get up to $3k to use at private NY colleges. I do agree with your point, though, which I’ve made to OP on various other threads. They need to start with in state financial safeties. NYU is neither of those things.
When the time comes, I’d flip the search for merit granting schools. Find a list of schools that give merit aid (several lists pinned to this forum) and from that list pick schools you’d like to go to. I don’t think the 3 you listed will be on the ‘good merit’ list.
If you are NMF, may more opportunities will open up.