Below is a link to becoming legally emancipated in Georgia. It’s a little complicated and you would have to already live on your own. An alternative might be to request deferment on your attendance of NYU. You could request that you start the college in 2020, instead of 2019. Come up with a good excuse – maybe you need a gap year or need to work full time for a period of time, etc. But there must be another way for you to obtain your dream and not throw away a great opportunity.
Some states do not have a process for emancipation. Some states require demonstrated financial independence over a significant amount of time to apply for emancipation. Some states will only grant emancipation if abuse has been documented. So for many students emancipation isn’t possible and there aren’t any options without parents until they reach the age of majority. Even then getting cooperation for financial aid forms until you are 24, married, have your own dependent or are discharged from the services can be a leverage point parents wield to the detriment of their children.
Learning what the emancipation requirements are and whether or not that is even possible can help the OP evaluate all of her options realistically. The OP is determined to attend NYU, hopefully she will convince her parents to support her decision. If she can’t, then she does have the right to pursue emancipation.
But, it is important to know what financial aid forms NYU expects to receive over the next few years. If the OP emancipates, heads to NYU and is unable to renew the scholarship because the parents won’t cooperate with needed documents like the FAFSA or CSS she won’t be able to finish her education there.
At what point did your parents complete the CSS profile? If they completed that and signed the ED paperwork, it seems they might be persuaded to let you go given the binding of the ED paperwork. Your guidance counselor can play a role in notifying them of the legal bind that signing that meant. The fact that they were under the influence is not your problem and they’d be pretty foolish to admit that to anyone. Your problem will be whether they’ll continue to fill out the CSS profile so that you can keep your merit award each year.
I wish you the best of luck. And, while NYU is the ultimate package, you will do well wherever you land. Keep your chin up and put one foot in front of the other.
I highly doubt that this is a merit only scholarship. According to the 16/17 Common data set, NYU gave 175 merit only awards with an average award amount of $4,476. 1 full COA award would be 10% of the total merit award amount.
You can believe it or not, but I did not sign anything but those NCAA documents. Students have some exceptions to the ‘no contracting under age 18’ laws. Students can take student loans, sign tuition contracts, and I guess housing. I was willing to, but it wasn’t required to, sign any documents at the school. The bills were not addressed to me (all electronic) and I only had access through her. She signed herself into the dorm and signed all other documents. In fact, as we went through the orientation process, those handling the different stations weren’t interested in talking to me. The nurse taking the vaccination details wouldn’t speak to me at all.
It can be done but it is difficult. The easier path is to have the parents on board and supporting the student with the very difficult process of starting school. If OP’s parents won’t agree to her starting at NYU, I think the best plan is to take a gap year not because a 17 year old can’t do it but because it is a huge burden and being 17 makes it more difficult.
I also recommend reading that FA plan carefully. Are the Stafford loans included in the ‘Grants from the school’ figure? Often people see that ‘total grants’ number and don’t realize that it includes loans. When I filled out the NPC for my daughter, that bottom line was " OOP…$0" Hurrah! Jackpot…until I noticed the huge Parent Plus loan included. That was just the NPC and when I learned more about FA and how it worked, I understood how it would all be paid for, and it wasn’t an ‘OOP…$0’ situation. I’ve never heard of NYU not including loans, at least the student direct loans ($5500)
OP’s parents signed the form when they were incapacitated and OP knew it. That can be grounds for voiding the contract. They don’t have to pursue it in court though. There’s nothing stopping them from calling the college and withdrawing their support. If they signed the form when they were fully aware of what they were doing that would be wrong, but I can’t say what they should do here because I don’t know what’s in the financial aid package. If they’re being saddled with tons of debt so OP can go to her dream college then they should be able to refuse based on finances.
@AmandaSpokenMind Your scholarship award is so out of the range that NYU normally awards, I hope you can understand the skepticism from a number of posters here is out of concern for you. The last thing you want is to ruin your relationship with your parents, head off to NYU and discover that there are loans hidden in your aid package. Loans that you will need your parents’ signatures for.
It doesn’t take much effort to place a call to NYU financial aid office and ask to speak with someone who can go over your aid package. Ask directly “Are there any loans in this package?” and “How much of this will I be required to pay back?” . I would record the name of the person you speak with, and their title, and mark the date and time you speak with them.
If you are going to be an adult on your own, it is wise to confirm financial matters. Also, ask what GPA you need to maintain to remain eligible for all four years of your scholarship. A 3.0 is less stressful than a 3.3, and a 3.5 is the highest I have seen for scholarship requirements. Ask if there are other requirements besides a certain GPA, like number of credit hours completed each semester. A responsible adult will check things out and know ahead of time what strings are attached to this Free Money.
There are a lot of us rooting for you to find your way to NYU. We want this FULL RIDE scholarship to be true, and hope that our concern is all for nothing.
That is assuming that this is a need based full ride. Although I agree with the experienced posters that it most likely is, it isn’t completely clear.
Sometimes parents don’t relent, and students end up having to stay closer to home. I know of a student who got into Stanford, and her parents made her stay home and attend Hamline.
I agree with powercropper. NYU actually say that they don’t meet full need so I also worry there are loans in there even though from the breakdown it doesn’t sound like it. I think it’s a good suggestion to ask someone with familiar with it to explain properly what is in there. If it is a true merit based full ride then NYU really, really want you and I hope you can somehow make your parents understand how amazingly rare an opportunity this is.
I really hope you can get this sorted out. Best of luck.
@Eeyore123 I don’t suppose there is any breakdown there between the “opportunity” programs like HEOP, and other students? ( I somehow have it in my head that they meet need for HEOP etc but I may have understood faultily. OP wouldn’t fall under this as she is not a NYS resident.)
Nevertheless, the largest grants/scholarships package I’ve heard of before this from NYU is $50k, so this is truly an exceptional offer.
Then, I would chalk this up to a bureaucratic oversight or a grossly incompetent legal department. It’s not just a matter of contracts being non-enforceable under 18. Harboring a runaway child is a criminal act.
That’s why OP needs to call and get details because if anything is tied to her parents in that package, the situation is different than if it isn’t. I’m especially suspicious of NYU packaging Parent PLUS into the package as they often do to make it look like full need is met. Stafford doesn’t appear in the breakdown meaning the package isn’t final.
It’s really important to have details and planning accordingly.
@MYOS1634 she had the balance under loans as zero, so there shouldn’t be any hidden loans in there. They do strip out loans vs grants and scholarships in the financial aid details.
Edit: I’ve just looked back and see she doesn’t actually give a zero loans balance, but just has the full amount under “grants and scholarships”… still, that should be the same outcome.
^ NYU always packages loans and work study before merit or need based aid.
Even HEOP kids for whom supposedly full need is covered get a grant for tuition only.
That’s why I don’t think the detailed package has been sent.
My daughter was accepted ED and a full breakdown of the aid (this is a funny misnomer in our case) offered was available with the admission letter, same day. OP may be misunderstanding what she has, but all the details should be there. I think the final date to sign acceptance for ED1 offers was 3 January and they would have had to have all aid details available before then?
NYU’s financial aid website notes that “NYU awards very few exclusively merit-based scholarships”… so they do award some.
I agree that you do need the full blow out of your financial aid before you can decide next steps.
It is not unusual for immigrant parents to want to keep their college children close to home, especially if that child is a female, in my experience. There are some things that other kids in similar situations have done to try to convince their parents, that have worked. The #1 thing I’ve seen work is for someone else from the same culture to speak to them. Someone they would respect, someone with some authority, who can offer them guidance - and who you can get to represent you to your parents. It can also work to have someone else from the same culture, who has a daughter who has gone to college far away, ideally in a major city (perfect would be in NYC) and done well, speak to them. If anyone else in your community has gone to NYU or NYC that you know of, you can talk to that person. If you don’t know of anyone, you can ask NYU if they have female students from Nigeria on campus, and if so, if they can connect you to one of them - and you’d take it from there.
It can also be the case that, if you can address some of the concerns behind what they are saying, it can help, at least a bit. For example, I’ve seen success with students who arrange to live in a women’s only dorm. NYU itself doesn’t offer one, but there are several nearby, such as this one: https://marklenyc.org/
If the parents are religious, I’ve also seen success when the student reaches out to members of that religious community at or near the college, and makes arrangements to settle in with them once they arrive to the college (attend services, find out what’s available for students to do, joins the college group, etc.) If there are older members of the religious community, you’d talk to them, then ask if they could talk to your parents.
No matter what, reach out to NYU and ask them to put you in touch with female Nigerian students.
See if NYU has a cultural, ethnic, or religious group that would help show that there’s no more danger to you, your soul, the things they’ve taught you, than at Athens GA or Atlanta.
Demonstrate ability to continue with faith traditions if relevant.