So, I’ve only just finished freshman year of high school, so I know I have time to change my mind, but I’m dead set on going to NYU. NYU is so expensive though, so my parents won’t let me apply. They say that they don’t want me to have student loans and that I’m only into NYU because of the location (which is not true), and that I need to be practical and apply in-state unless I get a full ride scholarship, but I have no interest in any Texas universities and I flat out refuse to go to community college. I think my parents have:
- underestimated just how much time and effort I’ve put into finding a college and major that’s right for me including comparing costs for each place and that I really do feel like NYU would be a good fit
- Forgotten that in this generation, college is going to be EXTREMELY expensive regardless of where I go
- Disregarded the fact that I have already begun searching for scholarships but full rides to good universities (ex. NYU) are VERY hard to come by unless you’re in big financial need or extremely academically talented (which I am neither)
- Forgotten that this is MY future, MY decision, and ultimately mostly MY money going into college, if I end up with student loans, I will regard them as MY responsibility for MY actions
I appreciate them looking out for me but this will be my first decision as an adult and I want to be able to make it myself and handle the consequences like an adult, but I don’t know how to tell them that because every time they say I can’t go I just get emotional and can’t get the words out of my mouth.
I think you have forgotten that you likely wouldn’t be attending college at all without their financial assistance. So unless you are capable of footing the entire bill for your education then the reality is you can only go to schools they are willing to pay for.
Things could change between now and the time you need to apply. Hopefully one of those changes is your attitude…
You can make independent decisions if you have $80k per year (that will be the tuition in 4 years). Otherwise it is their money.
And there is a HUGE difference between paying ~$30k for a Texas school and $80k for NYU. If YOU have it, no problem, but you cannot borrow that much money.
If you want to go to college OOS, start researching scholarships for those schools. There are a lot of schools between Texas community college costs and NYU.
I should clarify a bit more:
what I mean by “my” money: yes, my parents WILL be helping me pay for college, but when it comes to student loans they have made it a point that it is MY responsibility. My brother, for example, did get initial help from my parents by getting money, but he has student loans now and my parents have told him it’s his responsibility. Basically, once the savings my parents have saved up for me are gone, I’m on my own, so yes a good chunk of college will be covered by MY money. they are HELPING me, NOT flat out paying for it. that’s how it works in my family. I do have a job, and I am working on scholarships for my own savings for college and i obviously intend to work in college so I am prepared to pay for my own education. sorry for any misconceptions.
You can only borrow a total of about $27,000 total in your name. Your parents would have to take out Parent PLUS or cosign private loans for you. It sounds like they are unwilling to do that.
You can only borrow 5500 dollars per year as a student. The rest is on your parents loan, so they are stuck with it. NYU is seriously overrated by high school kids. Study hard and you might get into UT Austin with plenty of urbanity at about one third the cost.
You can only borrow $5500/year. Where do you plan to get the other $298,000?
My oldest daughter graduated university just over a year ago. She had two choices for jobs. One was as a waitress. The other is a dream job that she absolutely loves, but it actually pays worse than being a waitress (in the short term – long term it may lead to good opportunities). If she had taken on loans to attend school, then she would have to be paying them off now. This would mean that she would be a waitress, and she probably would be a waitress at a restaurant within a 20 minute drive of our house so that she could live at home. I however insisted about 6 years ago that she must go to a school that did not require any loans (and my wife and I gave her a set budget). This means that now she has no debt, and can take the job that pays less, but that she loves. We get texts from her with pictures nearly daily. Most of these involve a huge smile on her face and a stunningly beautiful background, with her doing something that she loves. Also, this will lead to a better future for her when compared to being a waitress. Her job barely pays enough for her to live, but she absolutely loves it and it will most likely lead to a much better path for her long term. She was angry or frustrated with me 6 years ago. Now she is very happy that she does not have any debt at all. She also did like the university that she ended up attending.
Taking on debt for university will severely limit your choices once you graduate.
NYU is a very good university. It also has a reputation for being very expensive. UT Austin is a very good university. Being in-state it will be much more affordable for you (assuming that you have the grades and other things you need to get accepted – if you don’t get into UT Austin then you probably won’t get into NYU either). Being in Texas you might think of UT Austin as “where local people go”. For those of us who live elsewhere, we think of it as a very good university in a great location. You also have other very good universities in Texas.
Assuming you were to get in, NYU is notoriously stingy on financial aid, and you can only borrow a max of $5500 freshman year, $6500 sophomore year, and $7500 junior and senior year on your own. Anything more and you’ll need a co-signor with the income or collateral to cover the loans.
If you can figure out where to come up with the other $300K on your own, more power to you. Go to NYU and live your dream, but don’t expect your parents to co-sign loans for that amount. Even if they were able, that would be the definition of selfish.
Let’s pretend that you can take a $50k loan every year (you can’t, so this is just a game). After 4 years, you’ll owe $200k. How much do you think your monthly payment would be?
You’d pay $1000/mo if you extend you payments to 30 years! If you’d just be paying it all on the 10 year schedule, about $3000 per month.
Now you see why it can’t be done.
My daughter just got her repayment schedule. She borrowed about $22k and her payments will be about $250 per month. She doesn’t live in NYC and she’ll have a hard time paying rent and that payment.
Others have commented that you can only take out between $5,500 - &7,500 yourself and that your parents will need to co-sign any other loans for you. But I’m not sure you know what that means. It means even though you have agreed with your parents that you will pay all of it, the lenders can choose to hold either you or your parents responsible. So even if you pay 100% of it, your parents’ ability to borrow for things that they want or need for themselves will be limited because lenders will only allow people to borrow so much. I also know families where parents couldn’t borrow money for younger children because they used up their borrowing power for older children.
Besides their borrowing power, I also know families where the parents ended up having to pay off the loan, despite the best intentions of the student, because of a bad economy and inability of the student to get a good paying job.
" I also know families where parents couldn’t borrow money for younger children because they used up their borrowing power for older children."
I know someone who got part way through their bachelor’s degree, and then just were not allowed to borrow any more. They were a very strong student and were not able to finish their degree. They had the debt, but nothing to show for it.
@Bagelchips Your audience here is parents, for the most part Every single one of us are going to take your parent’s side if the problem is presented as “me vs. them”. You would have better luck if you made a general appeal for advice on how to act so as to be able to attend your dream school.
It’s true that most of us are parents, but I think it’s also true that most of us can remember being kids and being upset when we didn’t get something that we really, really wanted and thought we worked hard for. I’m not knocking @bagelchips for being upset, I’m just trying to point out some facts he might not be aware of. Sometimes age is good because advice comes from experiences.
@Bagelchips, do you have any idea how interest payments build up? If you were somehow able to borrow $300,000. you would not be paying back $300,000, but many times that amount. Depending on your payment schedule, the majority of the money you would pay each month would go toward paying off the interest and very little of it would pay down your debt. If you ran into financial trouble and couldn’t make monthly payments, the interest you owe would actually ADD to the amount you owe. People become buried in debt they can never get out of. Do you really think four years at NYU is worth becoming a slave to the bank for the next twenty, thirty, forty years of your life? There are people NOW nearing retirement age, who cannot send their own children to college or save for retirement because they are still paying off THIER OWN college debt. And yes, you are right: for your generation it will be even harder, and that’s precisely the reason you should go with the most economically viable plan.
Go to school in Texas or get large scholarships to an OOS school that wants you enough to pay. Then move to NYC as a young professional. My nephew graduated from University of Alabama and did just that. Has a marketing job in Manhattan, an apartment on the Upper East Side and is having a great time in his twenties. No debt.
You’re a freshman. I hope you grow up A LOT in the next three years! (And learn about compound interest).
I think we should all try to keep our tones informative instead of informative + condescending 
I know it feels like you are ready to take on the responsibility of debt and you want to make your own decision and face the consequences of it, but you may not realize the sheer size of those consequences.
I’m confident you’ll find another college to fall in love with in your four years of high school. There are so many, after all!
Also, why “flat out refuse” community college? It is a very economical option.
Someone suggested moving to NYC professionally, after you’re done with your education. I think that’s a good idea. Delayed gratification is hard but often the wiser route.
You have wonderful instate option in TX, including some in very large metropolitan areas.
Here’s my $.02. NYU is going to be next to impossible to sell to your parents because of the cost. They are notoriously stingy with aid even for the best applicants.
Do a deeper dive about what you find appealing about NYU and then start looking at other options that would be equal to your instate costs or where you would be able to get merit $ to make it a comparable cost for your parents.
Most students don’t have an unlimited budget for college and most advice on CC starts with knowing what your family budget is. They aren’t being unreasonable and frankly are doing you a favor to not saddle yourself with loans.
There are thousands of colleges in the US. You can find many where you can be happy, including in TX.
I think you get the point NYU is not happening. From a business standpoint it shouldn’t either. You are slightly naive but that’s OK. Research schools, talk costs with financial aid offices etc. You won’t get scholarships to cover your costs.
I would love to have a Ferrari but simply can’t afford it but my car gets me to where I need to go.
Find a school that has the qualities you are looking for in NYU. But it just might not be on New York…
Once you have your degree you can move in I New York.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-university/1118996-is-nyu-worth-140k-dollars-of-debt-p1.html
There are tons of articles on the net with students going into debt with a NYU education. Look it up.