<p>Nice article.</p>
<p>It’s very hard at your age to face economic realities- and unfortunately most adults don’t have as good a grasp of rammifications of this major decision on your future finances as you seem to have. As a Stern alum who went many years ago on a full scholarship, I can tell you NYU was fabulous for me, and my classmates. Their alumni placement office is available to you for life- and was very active during the financial crisis to try to help displaced financial professionals. I could have gone to much better schools at the time - the $ was my deciding factor. NYU was much more generous then about giving merit aid than it is now, I think.</p>
<p>College realities, today, are very different than they were 20 years ago. Most of us feel private universities charge far too much, and you really need to be an empowered consumer, not just a scared kid who is so grateful a good college accepts you. What will you be getting for the extra $ you will be paying to go to the priciest universities? And, know with your eyes wide open, that if you take out major loans you will have to pursue a major in some career path that will make you big income to offset the loan payments that are equivalent to 1/2 a mortgage on a small house. If not, these loans will have a significant effect on your quality of life as an adult. If you want to become a teacher, social worker, nurse, etc (not that there is anything wrong with these professions!) you will not gain anything by going to the pricey college over a state school.</p>
<p>My son is waiting to hear RD, is pre-med, and we have these discussions all the time these days: would you rather go to School A with a 20K merit scholarship, or our state U’s honors college, or School B with no $ vs. School A with some $? </p>
<p>Good luck to you- the fact that you are asking these questions shows me that you are way ahead of the pack- and you will be successful in life no matter where you go to college!</p>
<p>aw thanks 2011mamom 
I applied to CAS and have absolutely no idea what I want to do career wise, so that’s what makes me nervous! I guess I’ll see if I even get in and then decide from there. It is a huge decision! I think NYU is a great fit for me, but I got a full ride at a private university in my state (in the middle of nowhere though and not a good fit unfortunately) and I got into a great state school here that would <em>only</em> be 20k a yr total. nyu would definitely be a better experience since I’d get to meet people from everywhere instead of just my state, and I’d get to be in nyc!! but if I was worrying about debt the whole time, I don’t know if it’d be worth it…</p>
<p>I heard stern usually is worth the cost because you end up getting top jobs after graduation that pay off your debt. but since I don’t have a specific career path in mind, going to nyu might be a huge risk…</p>
<p>thanks for all of your advice, I really really appreciate it!</p>
<p>My parents make less than $60,000 a year and they said that if I don’t get a full-ride scholarship, (which is impossible at NYU) I can’t go. By the way, I’m currently a sophomore.</p>
<p>Chelsea I’m sorry! I hate how people can’t go sometimes because of $ (I might be in that boat too!)</p>
<p>Good luck with everything!</p>
<p>lorrainedelis: It’s okay. NYU is my fourth choice, but it would be amazing to get accepted. Hopefully they can boost their endowment… Thanks, by the way. Good luck to you, too!</p>
<p>oh well that’s good that it’s your 4th! (gosh I don’t even think I have 4 choices! Maybe 2 or 3 but they’re all reaches :/) what are your other 3 schools?</p>
<p>@lorrainedelis
I don’t think anyone responded with this, but I think the concept is NOT that families are paying the college costs out of current earnings. The concept is that they have been putting money aside for the kid’s college education since the kid was born, and, over time, the savings have grown - to varying degrees. And the college costs are paid out of the college savings accounts.</p>
<p>Perhaps your parents have already set aside money for your education and simply haven’t discussed it with them. </p>
<p>Perhaps it’s time to ask for a sitdown conversation, and ask how much they expect to be able to contribute (if anything!)</p>
<p>thanks mt paper!! I didn’t even think about that :/</p>
<p>Just got an email from admissions!!! Full ride for opera!!! :)</p>
<p>Hi, Operaluvr,</p>
<p>A BIG CONGRATULATIONS! So excited for you.</p>
<p>By the way, did you receive a scholarship or is the full ride all grants? Curious because this is around the time people should be scholarship recipients should be hearing.</p>
<p>I not sure if that is possible. NYU rarely at all give full rides. They do make the students take their share of the stafford loans. I’m always skeptical of full rides at NYU.</p>
<p>wow congratulations!!</p>
<p>Don’t fool yourselves. The cost of higher education has a direct correlation to government subsidies. When the government gets involved in subsidizing segments of the economy you will see massive inflation (ie housing, healthcare, education). Take away government subsidies and tuition rates will fall with demand for education services. As demand drastically falls (at the current price levels) it will put downward pressure on professor salaries as a glut of qualified instructors will ensue. Once price levels reach an equilibrium (where the middle class can actually afford it) demand will recover as enrollments start to grow.</p>
<p>huh?? I’m not great at economics :/</p>
<p>so it’ll get cheaper??</p>
<p>Yes. It will even out to a more realistic point. Fact: the cost of tuition has spiked dramatically and maintains an absurdly skewed relationship with the rise of the CPI.</p>
<p>^ CPI as in Consumer Price Index?</p>
<p>My point about higher prices spawned by government subsidies is not intended to disparage education. What I’m trying to say is that it prohibits realistic price discovery in terms of what return on investment you gain by earning a degree. Without the widespread availability of government subsidies and loans, fewer people would consider college because they would look at the price tag and realize that it was a poor investment. A similar phenomena recently occurred in housing whereby highly available government subsidies did very little in terms of making homes affordable because the increased availability of credit simply just drove prices higher.</p>