Is it as bad as Nyu’s fin aid? I heard it was pretty bad…
But I do know that this girl in my school got into boston with almost a full ride. She’s not extraordinary or really special, but I think she is pretty smart.
Since I am a figure skater (even though you can’t get recruited, Boston is huge in figure skating) and coach, will that give me a boost in financial aid? I am very competitive and dedicated but have not made any major achievements yet.
I am in the 75k income range btw!
It’s bad (as is NYU’s). Check it out for yourself.
https://www.bu.edu/finaid/aid-basics/cost-of-education/net-price-calculator/
http://www.nyu.edu/financial.aid/misc/npc/
She might have received merit $ or outside scholarships. Don’t worry about other people’s FA.
No.
Why don’t you run the net price calculator on the BU website? That should give you an indication of your aid and your net cost to attend.
What is your GPA and your SAT? Merit awards are based on those.
The school does not guarantee to meet full financial need for all.
3.4 UW and 3.95 W @thumper1
^ its not terrible, but its not that great either. my “exuse” is that i practice figure skating 20 hours a week
Sat or act score?
havent gotten them back. I would suspect its a 1300, but im retaking it and hoping for at least a 1400!
Are you a high school junior?
So far as I know, the most generous need based award at BU is the Trustee Scholarship. It is full TUITION, not full ride.
Any other aid would have needed to be need based. If this student was Pell eligible, and took the $5500 direct loan, she might have been close to a full ride.
The Trustee Scholarship is HIGHLY competitive and takes a special application. There is an early deadline for submission of that application as well as your admissions application.
What is your family income? BU costs $70,000 a year. What portion of that can your parents pay?
Being a figure skater might help you in admissions…but it’s NOT going to increase either need based or merit aid.
We ran the net price calculator on about 30 schools. BU came out in the upper third price-wise for us, but was not the worst.
my family’s income is 75 k and we are really tight in money right now
A few years ago BU students were ranked the third happiest in the country. They apparently had not calculated their monthly loan repayment at the time.
It’s funny because BU is on D’s list with one of the reasons being the possibility of great FA but she has other opportunities including Tuition Exchange that make it a very affordable option.
BU is not as bad as NYU, re: screwing over financially needy people, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it generous. But, they can be. I got a lot of money from BU–a little over full tuition, where essentially I had to pay room and board. I got more money from BU than most people, and I’m super grateful for it. My package was a mix of need-based aid, government loans and merit-based grants. BU preferentially packages–if they want you on campus, they offer you money. The other poster is somewhat mistaken–while the Trustee Scholarship is the primary named merit award, BU does offer merit-based aid beyond the Trustees that can be generous; it’s not always need based. But it often is. Other than Trustees, a middle income or higher student isn’t getting a full ride, though they may get somewhat generous aid if they are outstanding (ie: better aid than they might get at a purely need-based school). But an outstanding lower income student very likely may get a generous package if BU wants them badly enough.
I recommend Googling BU financial aid + New York Times–there is a 2009 article about how they work that is illuminating. In it, there is a case where they essentially offer two students–one very low income and one middle income–the same package, knowing the middle income student will likely attend (as the gap is affordable to them), but the low income student will not (as the gap is not affordable). They state it pretty outright–they weren’t incentivized by the lower income student’s application enough to offer them more. But on the flip of that, I can speak anecdotally to multiple low income students BU did want and offered near full rides to (gap of less than 5K per year, covered with government loans).
The person you know who got a near full ride must be outstanding in some way. 75K income isn’t low enough to warrant a full ride even if you’re great, but if BU decides you have that jeux ne se qua, perhaps they will be generous (full tuition = generous for BU). But they might not be. I never advise any student to count on BU for money unless they are the perfect intersection of outstanding and needy, and even then, I tell them to have a proper financial safety. BU is never a financial safety.
How accurate is the NPC? I only need the price to be at 30k or under, and with the npc it is at $30,909. Should I give a leeway of a couple thousand either way as what to expect if I get accepted?
About 2 months back, I ran the BU NPC and based on need, the cost came to 3000.! I was surprised, but I believed it and my son went ahead and applied. I ran the NPC again today and they have removed the entire grant and the cost comes to 50k !.
I ran into a similar situation where the EFC provided by the NPC changed substantially within a 2 month period. You might want to look at the link below to get an idea of the aid provided by BU:
AVERAGE AID AWARD AND PROFILE FOR FRESHMEN WHO RECEIVED BU NEED-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS IN 2015/2016
http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/newstudents/incoming/freshman-receiving-scholarships/
Thanks for the link - looks very encouraging !
Are you saying you used BU’s NPC 2 months ago and put in the exact same info now and got a difference of 45K??? That is crazy! I would call the school if that is the case.