Hello, this is my first post here but I am currently at a loss for what to do. I am currently a sophomore at NYU Tandon, and as of this past winter, I am no longer financially supported by the primary custodial parent (divorced) I gave information for in my CSS profile, who accounted for about 2/3 of my total family income. Bottom line is, I need more money from the school.
Other schools, such as Columbia (I have a friend who attends), require the CSS profile to be submitted annually to accurately reflect the financial status of students, but NYU is different. NYU only accepts the CSS profile at enrollment and it is not resubmitted, nor can it be (according to financial aid office workers) - the alternative is to submit an appeal every semester for increased aid. Doing this, I received an 8% increase in my scholarship, which brought my total aid from ~39% to ~47%, which is not enough to make up for the income change in any significant capacity.
The financial aid office workers told me this was the only way of changing the financial aid package, and that there was nobody i could speak to to potentially resubmit the CSS profile, which is the only option I have, since the appeal value will likely not get any larger in coming semesters. As such, I wanted to know if any of you have advice on how I can go about getting to a stage where I can resubmit my PROFILE, or maybe other options I may have but do not know of.
As a note, I already have summer- and school-time jobs and am taking federal and private loans. I was expecting a contribution of $5000 from my custodial parent per semester, which I now have no source for.
NYU has already told you that you cannot resubmit the Profile for financial aid reconsideration. You submitted additional information and got a small increase. The school already knows about the reduced money available to you. What would be gained by completing the Profile with that same information?
Why is your custodial parent cutting off their $5000 annual support for college?
Did you reside with your other parent more than 50% of the time? If not, this custodial parent from last year would still be your custodial parent on the financial aid forms. That this parent has decided to not support you really doesn’t matter…if they are still the custodial parent for financial aid purposes.
What do you think you could do if you get to resubmit the Profile? Even IF your other parent is your custodial parent and has lower income and assets…your other parent would be required to provide their financials via the non-custodial parent Profile. It would all still need to be reported.
NYU also doesn’t guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students.
Perhaps you need to consider transferring to an affordable college.
ETA…you wrote this…
Well…sort of. The CSS Profile submitted to columbia annually reflects the incomes and assets of BOTH parents…not just the student.
You are going to NYU, not Columbia. Columbia has totally different financial aid policies. For one thing, it guarantees to meet full need for undergraduates at Columbia College and the Fu School. NYU makes no such guarantee.
Look at the Common Data Sets for both schools. NYU has far fewer students getting 100% of need met. NYU also gives out merit money which Columbia does not. It’s a waste of time citing Columbia’s or any other schools’ policies and practices when you go to NYU
You need to speak to the director of financial aid and make a direct plea to this person in hopes some additional review and money is given to you. Be aware, NYU does not typically do this. Too bad, is usually the line, when there are changes in need that require more money. But that’s your only recourse, to appeal to the person who does have the authority to give you more
You don’t provide any information as to why you are “no longer financially supported by the primary custodial parent.”
Not knowing why you are now in the situation you describe, I offer the following:
If the refusal by a parent to support a child’s education expenses (not just the inability to do so) became a convenient way to increase institutional need-based aid for a student, there would be a whole lot of parents out there who suddenly wouldn’t be able to find there wallet/checkbook.
If you now live with the other parent (and have for more of the last 365 day) you will use the other (formerly NCP) parent’s income and assets when filing the FAFSA for next year. That info will be used for your federal aid (loans, Pell, SEOG).
@twoinanddone
The student is at NYU. NYU uses the CSS Profile and requires the non-custodial parent form as well. Financial info from both parents will be required by NYU regardless of who the custodial parent is on the FAFSA. The EFC generated by the FAFSA might give this kid more of a Pell Grant, and maybe SEOG. But that’s not going to pay most of the cost of attending NYU.
To the OP, how short are you in terms of costs? $5000? $20,000? $40,000?
47% of the cost of NYU is about $35,000. Is that what you need to come up with?
Yes, I saw that but even if the CSS isn’t submitted every year, the FAFSA is. If the change in custody (or who the student lives with) causes a drastic change to the FAFSA EFC, the student may have an argument that NYU should re-examine its aid, and it may trigger more federal aid.
A lot of times, schools that do not want PROFILE after freshman year, do not guarantee to meet the same portion of need each year. You get your award, and the only changes are if you are entitled to more state or Federal money.
If there is a major change in situation, there has to be a serious sit down with someone in FIn Aid with authority to make big changes and exceptions to policy.
Actually, if the custodial parent has been changed, wouldn’t it be a whole other FAFSA using 2017 income of the new custodial parent that becomes important?
Folks…this student had already been told that NYU will not accepted another Profile form. The student has given the relevant financial information to NYU and they gave the student a small increase in aid…just not enough to make it possible for this student to pay the bill to attend.
The student sounds like they are having issues paying the current bill. NYU has already given its aid adjustment for this year.
So…when the student applies for aid for 2020-2021, that student needs to be honest about which parent he resided with for the majority of the time prior to the date of filing.
We don’t know why this parent is no longer supporting this student. The student says this is his custodial parent.
For all we know, this parent and student had a falling out.
There is something I’d like clarified. This poster says that his custodial parent isn’t giving him $5000…but his short fall for NYU far exceeds that amount. Where is the rest of the money to pay his college bills coming from?
And my error above…NYU doesn’t even require the Profile in subsequent years. The FAFSA only. This was submitted to the school. And the student already asked for additional funds.