<p>Hi, I'm a Canadian high school student. My dream school is NYU, however it is currently out of the question due to the high tuition and lack of international scholarships. Does anyone know ANYTHING a Canadian student could do to get financial aid and/or scholarships from an American school? Without it, there's no way I could afford it. And yes, I might not get in, but I have plenty of other dream American schools that are way out of budget. Please help!! Thanks for everything :)</p>
<p>All you can do is look for colleges with generous aid for international students, but I think you’re at a disadvantage being Canadian (just my guess). The few schools with generous aid for internationals are interested in creating a more global academic environment for their student body, so students from Asia, Africa, the Mid-east, eastern Europe, or Central and South America will do more in that regard than students from Canada.</p>
<p>You have excellent schools in Canada, and NYU isn’t that great. Just sayin’.</p>
<p>Gonna be blunt. NYU is a really crappy dream school to have. Their financial aid policies are notoriously awful, and you will likely be “offered” six-figure loan debt.</p>
<p>ahhh okay 
i’ve always wanted to go to Tisch… haha at least that school has to be good, it’s produced oscar/tony winners 
i was also thinking ucla if they have anything, but i guess i’ll save up and keep looking</p>
<p>There are some colleges who will consider Americans and Canadians in the same academic/ financial aid pool.</p>
<p>People from Tisch with Oscars and Tonys got them because they are good at what they do, not because Tisch “produced” them. There are a lot of people with Oscars and Tonys from regional state universities too.</p>
<p>@'rentof2: you can say that about anybody who has been successful. Nobody, regardless of school they attend, is “produced” by a school, but the school can help.</p>
<p>I think people are being to hard on NYU. It’s a highly ranked school (tisch is supposedly amazing and at the top) in New York. As a college student there’s so much exploring to do there. Personally I’d go for NYU. You’ll earn enough to pay back the loans eventually. You only go to college once, so you might as well go to your dream school. You seem to be interested in the arts, and NYU is far superior to UCLA in that respect. Good luck choosing!</p>
<p>“You’ll earn enough to pay back the loans eventually.”</p>
<p>hahvad, </p>
<p>A simple Google search for NYU+unpaid+student+loans will pull up multiple horror stories of people who believed just that. NYU gives excellent aid to a small number of students that are particularly desirable, and lousy aid to everyone else. It isn’t as easy now for a student to graduate with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of student debt because the federal government has begun to crack down on this, but some still manage to do so. The OP is Canadian, and can only qualify for a loan in the US with a US citizen or permanent resident co-signer. If NYU is unaffordable for his/her family out of current income, chances are that the likelihood of finding that co-signer is minimal.</p>
<p>hloonves,</p>
<p>Have you taken a look at the threads in these forums? You may find some good alternatives there:
[Theater/Drama</a> Majors - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/]Theater/Drama”>Theater/Drama Majors - College Confidential Forums)
[Musical</a> Theater Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/]Musical”>Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums)
There are a number of colleges and universities in the US that treat Canadians as US applicants for institutional financial aid. There also are some public universities that treat Canadians from a bordering province as residents of that state for tuition and fees. You may be able to get the scoop on those places by reading through the International Students forum: [International</a> Students - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/]International”>International Students - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
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<p>This is exactly the mentality that leads thousands of ignorant 18-year-olds into life-damaging debt slavery. Plus, the OP wants a career in the arts, one of the most poorly paid and unstable fields out there. She’ll be lucky to eat and pay the rent, let alone service huge student loans.</p>
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<p>Who is going to take out or cosign these HUGE loans? The student will not be able to secure large loans in his/her name without a cosigner. Is someone willing to cosign the loans…or borrow significant funds for this student to attend NYU (or any other school for that matter)?</p>
<p>To the OP…you need to talk to your parents. If they have a budget for your college costs, you will either have to work within that budget or figure out some way to get the additional money you need yourself. The school won’t care how the bills are paid…but they WILL expect them to be paid by someone.</p>
<p>Are there NO Canadian universities with performing arts programs? I know McGill has a great music department. I would check schools within your own country. They will be your best financial deal.</p>
<p>I have known many theater and dance students at NYU. I am friends with a former faculty member at Tisch, I lived blocks away for years. My ex is a Tisch dropout (he went there for less than a year and left) who is now on the Tisch faculty. Sure, it can be a great experience for students who can afford it, but it is no way critical for success. It’s a luxury item and it is DEFINITELY not worth going into significant debt for… especially not if you want a career in the arts. You cannot start out burdened by debt, that’ll kill your dreams faster than anything. You need to be able to live on very little, work for money inconsistently, and be free to take on many interesting projects with interesting people who cannot pay you. If you have to go to a money job to make those loan payments, someone who doesn’t have to go to their money job will get those opportunities… not you. These are the ways young artists build networks with other talented young people, and those are the connections that help you build a career.</p>
<p>There are many successful Canadian artists/performers – you might take a peek at their paths – many made themselves successful IN Canada and then swooped out to the rest of the world. </p>
<p>I suspect OP has “grass is greener on the other side of the fence” syndrome combined with “any horizon has got to be exotic compared to the one I’ve got” syndrome that is common in 18 year olds. </p>
<p>Alas, the path to NYC that was possible for many in the past is . . . not available for international students right now (unless one happens to be an Olympic level athlete in certain sports or one is already of Broadway quality). The Canadian economy is much, much stronger than the US economy. We have no money. None. We’d love to have you come down and pay full price as an international student. (Expect full pay internationals to be welcome at many campuses this next cycle). </p>
<p>If you are broke yourself, then you need to bootstrap yourself into a star in your own burg/nation and then the invitations to come elsewhere may start to arrive. </p>
<p>I know this is not the answer you want – but it is an honest one. We are really, really broke here. Our preschools are closing and, in my state, we are about to cut the regular school year by a week to keep from firing teachers. Any state will put its own preschoolers ahead of paying to import college kids – so this is just not the decade to expect financial aid for your dreams.</p>
<p>thanks for the links and advice everyone- i’ll look into all the aid i can. where i stand now i plan on going to UBC (University of British Columbia) and maybe transferring after two years.</p>