NYU ED2 decisions came out yesterday and I got in!!! I applied to Gallatin and I was so excited to see the acceptance letter. It felt like everything I’ve done since I entered high school when I was 14 paid off. And then I saw the financial aid.
The cost was much higher than I expected. I thought I would receive at least some aid especially given that my family’s financial situation was impacted greatly by covid. I didn’t receive any aid and the tuition is about 81k/year.
I want to go to NYU. It’s something I’ve been working to achieve for a long time. But I just don’t know if I can afford that price.
If I decide to go, I will likely be in debt after I graduate. This is an undergrad degree and I’m also hoping to go to law school which is very expensive.
I’m hoping this post will find alumni and parents who can give me some advice on if NYU is worth it? Should I try appealing my aid package?
I also have the option of participating in the CAP program at UT Austin. Basically, I would spend my freshman year at a different UT system school, and if I have a 3.2 GPA and 30 credits by the end of that year, I automatically get to go to UT Austin sophomore year. This is much cheaper and a great option, it’s a little over 14k/year.
Can you afford a mortgage on a 320,000 house (around $1500/month) in addition to rent and living expenses, with the degree you will graduate with from NYU? Remember your parents will need to cosign that loan.
If you are borrowing $80K/yr the answer for NYU is a resounding NO!
If your family can pay cash $65K/yr and you will have to borrow $15K/yr or less to attend NYU, the answer is “it depends on your family’s true financial status.” Basically, it would be hard to justify spending an extra $60K (over 4 years) to attend any school over UT, unless your family can truly afford it.
If the schools end up within $5K/yr of each other in net cost to your family, go where you want as long as you can afford it.
My understanding is that financial inability is the only valid reason to back out of an ED acceptance. However, it also sounds like this is exactly what applies to you.
“be in debt after I graduate” is not good. You should avoid debt if you can for a bachelor’s degree. Having debt will restrict your options after graduating. Saving college $$ for law school would be a much better option.
Are you in-state in Texas? If so then UT Austin is a great choice. Also, if you are serious about law school, then you need to be a very serious student from the day that you arrive at university and maintaining a 3.2 GPA should be at least possible and hopefully even something that you could exceed significantly.
$14k per year versus $81k per year is a HUGE difference. I would save the difference for law school.
Agree with much of the above. So we need to hear from you how much of that $81K would you and your parents have to take out in loans? You can take out $5,500 freshman year, any other loans would be on your parents. Did you run NYUs net price calculator before you applied, since you said you were expecting some financial aid? If so, what did that estimate you would pay?
Sadly, that ought to be the official NYU applicant’s theme song.
If the $320K is chump change for your family (the situation for most of the International students with reasonably high but not high enough for IVYs stats attending NYU) then it’s worth it. If you have to borrow the $320K then definitely not worth it.
No. That could be an incredible burden, not only to your parents but to you. Think not just financially, but emotionally as debt limits the freedom one has to make choices. UT Austin is incredible-hook em’ horns!
I also got into NYU for co’25. My cost of attendance is not that high, but if it was I would’ve rejected the offer. I wouldn’t even pay 80k a year for Harvard, it’s not worth it. Go to UT Austin and maybe go to law school at NYU. 300k debt for undergrad is a no, unless you can find a way to get a scholarship or something like that.
I agree with all that NYU isn’t worth this cost, especially if a significant proportion of the $80k+ would be loans. BUT, OP was accepted ED2 and is bound to go. That’s why I am curious if they ran the NPC. It’s not the most ethical decision to get out of ED2 for affordability reasons for a full pay family. If they didn’t run the NPC what would be the reason? Because “I thought I would get some aid”? Based on what? If on the other hand the NPC was inaccurate, then that’s easy to get out of the ED agreement.
Add me to the list of those advising NO. NYU is not all it’s cracked up to be plus the location stinks. When my DS visited there were derelicts and bums everywhere. He ended up at our state flagship university and couldn’t have been happier. Graduated with no debt and now has substantial savings. Unless your parents are rich, do them and yourself a favor and go to UT.
UT Austin. My stepdaughter is about to graduate NYU. Frankly, not worth the money at all, especially with the pandemic and the uncertainty. It’s not worth having all that debt for an undergrad. Don’t even think about it twice!
I know NYU says they’ll let you out of an ED when others won’t…but will they really? The time to ask the question would have been b4 you applied.
Yes, it’s a lot easier to get into most places ED but there’s a lot of risk in doing so.
I have an MBA - I work with people from MBAs that are little local schools like Columbus State. I work with people who have degrees from places like Name your small 800 person college that Niche gives a C grade to. And I work with and for people that don’t have degrees.
Will going to a top college give you an edge. By and large, yes. If you take 100 people at NYU and 100 at St. Johns, the 100 at NYU in aggregate will do better. But will the top 100 of that top 200 be all NYU. No - maybe 58 or 62 of them.
You can be successful anywhere. It’s you - not your college. Save the dough.
And for that matter, I am unaware of any college that will not let an applicant out of an ED agreement for financial reasons.
NYU’s FA sucks. That is not a secret to those who have been around the block. The kid ran the NPC and the actual was not close. So blaming the kid is not really helping here.
It would be helpful for the OP to talk with the FA office to understand the discrepancy. They are unlikely to pony up $37K, but I would want to understand if I were in the position.
In this case, I would talk with someone from FA and see what the difference was. Seems like that is a bigger difference than would be explained by typical annual cost increase. If the $81k stands and you have to take out a high proportion in loans, I wouldn’t hesitate to break the ED agmt and go to Texas.
NYU’s online NPC calculator is horribly inaccurate. It doesn’t ask for enough of the information required to make a proper calculation. I personally have seen it $35k out (per year).
