<p>Appreciate your taking the time to come on this list and give your perspective. The more, the merrier, and the better informed we all will be.</p>
<p>What I wanna know is how do you pay for an NYU Tisch education when your parents don't even qualify to take out the PLUS loans that you need! I got a $20k tisch scholarship and it is still impossible, literally impossible... I'm guessing I should let it slip away? I mean, there's really nothing I can do when loans aren't an option, right? </p>
<p>I guess I kinda knew it was coming, but its just hard to realize the financial battle is over... Augh money...</p>
<p>Tawny, I don't know how quite to help you. You may want to get advice from someone in a financial aid office about options for financing your education. I imagine that your FA package was a combination of the scholarship, work study, student loans, etc. The rest, if your family doesn't have the funds, USUALLY can be borrowed as Parent Plus Loans. That is what we have done. I just asked my husband about the Plus loans after reading your post. I asked him what was involved in qualifying. He said that Plus Loans are not like other loans you take out that look at income and so forth. The main criteria in qualifying for a Plus Loan is having good credit. You can owe a lot of money or not even make much money but you just have to have a good credit rating. I don't know your parents' situation or what you meant by not qualifying. Is your mom or dad willing to take a Plus Loan if they qualify? Some parents are not. I do not know if that is an issue for you or not. If it is about qualifying and they do have a good credit rating, they ought to be able to take Plus Loans out. If not, then asking a financial aid person or advisor about your options would be next. </p>
<p>When your parents let you apply to a college like NYU, did they have a plan of how they would pay for it? I know they didn't know how much scholarship or student loans you'd receive but most would not expect that the entire tuition/room/board would be covered and might have looked at the formulas for the EFC and decided how that would be taken care of (PLUS loans, savings, summer jobs, other means, or maybe not at all). I don't know what your parents had expected or what plans they had. While you want to attend NYU, it may come down to having to attend a less expensive school if that is what your parents can do at this time. It is not a bad thing. You can get an education anywhere. Cost of an education is a factor in deciding where to attend. Most attend where the family can figure out a way to finance it or else not choose those colleges. </p>
<p>I don't know your other college options or if you got free rides or just what. I assume most schools didn't give a free ride so your family has to borrow or come up with some funds to pay the difference. I assume the amount they have to come up with is higher at NYU than your other options and thus your dilemma. I would consider the other options if your parents can find a way to finance them. If you only wish to consider NYU, then I would talk to a financial aid advisor about options available for financing the parts you can't pay. It doesn't mean they will give you more aid but may know the various ways to funding. Plus Loans are the common way. I am not sure what you mean by not qualifying unless you mean a credit rating. Your parents' income should not affect being able to take out Plus Loans, if I understand Plus Loans correctly as I just asked my husband who has handled the loans for our kids' tuitions. Good luck...I'm sure you will be able to work out which option or which school will work for you and your family as I imagine you guys discussed this when you applied.</p>
<p>Parents don't qualify for Parent Plus?? The byline is that even Bill Gates qualifies! What's up with that?? EVERYONE qualifies for Parent Plus!!</p>
<p>My parents have a lot of medical bills and don't make ANY money so I think that's why they didn't qualify or something. Apparantly you have to start paying them back while youre in college and I don't think there's anyway I can do that...</p>
<p>And well... I also got a full ride to Harvard. I know, I'm crazy, I just wanted NYU Tisch a lot. Especially because of the film and theatre experience and the extra opportunities as a Tisch Scholar.</p>
<p>Tawny, I read about your wonderful two options on another forum. I realize you seem to want to attend Tisch more than Harvard. When weighing college options, one must lay out all their college criteria and see which of their options most closely fits their personal criteria/preferences. For many students, cost is ONE of those criteria. In your case, it seems like it is an important factor. The fact is that ONE of your college options is truly a fantastic one and free. So, luckily you have one affordable option that is ALSO an amazing opportunity. I assume you were willing to consider BA programs enough to have opted to even apply in the first place to Harvard. You didn't just consider a BFA. It appears you prefer a BFA and so if you brainstorm the pros/cons or appeals of each of your two options, yes, the BFA is in the plus column for Tisch. FREE is in the plus column for Harvard and so forth. The curriculums differ. However, one path for FILM, which is your chosen field, is a BA degree followed by a Masters in a film school. This could be a fruitful path for you. Many students with strong arts backgrounds go to schools like Harvard. I know some there, as well as schools like Yale, Brown, Penn, Cornell,Tufts, and Vassar. They are talented enough to have gone for a BFA program but actually chose the BA route. They still will be able to attain their goals in their chosen career areas. You don't have to go to film school as an undergraduate to go into film. I know a very talented boy in film who is now at Vassar. I understand that you would like the film training at Tisch but overall I think both of your schools have opportunities for you and both have their "plusses". Considering that cost is a big factor for you, it can't be discounted. You can't dislike Harvard, I would think, because you chose to apply there. </p>
<p>Still, to my knowledge ANYONE would qualify for Parent Plus Loans no matter how little they made, unless they had a poor credit rating. The issue would be if they were willing to take on that debt. I don't have the facts of your case but I know that a FA office would have looked at need and have determined your EFC and figured in loans and all. If your family earns 0 income, the FA package should have been more. I don't know what they gave you besides the scholarship and how much was loans and what is still needed to finance. All this had to be a consideration BEFORE you applied and most would not expect a free ride (though I must say I am very very impressed with your free ride to Harvard and you should be VERY VERY proud of that). So, the discussion of how you might finance whatever portion of your tuition that a FA office would deem as the EFC had to have been considered at the time of application. The only scenario where that would not be is if your family counted on a free ride. Otherwise, they would have had to have expected to pay or finance SOMETHING or a PORTION of your college bill. The good news is that you DID get a free ride....and not at your safety school which is what happens with a lot of top students like yourself. I have a D who got a free ride at U of Vermont which was not a school even on her list and would be considered a safety for her, though she got Honors College. In your case, you got into a Reach school on a free ride. It is surely worthy of consideration, even though it seems your desire is in a BFA Film program. The extra opportunities as a Tisch Scholar are not THAT significant, though they are worthy, of course (my D is one and it is a wonderful program). Through Tisch Scholars, you'd have free trips but at Harvard you have FREE TUITION! You could study abroad at Harvard for free.....that is way more than what Tisch Scholars is and so I think you truly have opportunities at Harvard as well. Please delve into film and theater opportunities at Harvard. It isn't a BFA but it may still suit you and then you can go to film school for graduate school. Otherwise, I think you need to talk to a financial aid advisor to find out how to fund the part of the NYU tuition that is not covered by your package, as you would have had to do for any college you had applied to that did not offer a free ride. I would imagine this was a situation your family considered when you applied to colege, unless they just said let's see where you can get a free ride. If that is the case, that was their right and lucky you, you got it....at Harvard no less. </p>
<p>So, delve into the opportunities at Harvard...visit again.....talk to those in this field. Meanwhile, get financial advice from anyone who deals with financial aid about what options you do qualify for. Willingness to take them on is different from qualifying....and I don't know your family's situation, nor is it my business. Ask your parents how they had planned to pay for college when you had applied or if they were counting on a free ride. If cost is a major factor in your college options, then you need to live with that. It could be worse. You could have to attend community college or something truly not suitable for your intellect or talents. Luckily, if cost is a major factor in the college decision, you have gotten a free ride at what is often thought of as one of the top schools in the world. Once you get there, I don't think you will end up regretting the experience. By the way, Cambridge is a cool place to live. I lived there for four years. I also went to graduate school at Harvard. It really is a stimulating place to be! Obviously Tisch is wonderful and my daughter loves it there too. I think you have two choices where you could truly end up happy at either. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you. You are obviously an outstanding young lady!</p>
<p>Thank you so much soozie!! That post really made me feel better about this situation I'm in. I think I'll be very happy at Harvard, and I also think that grad school for film is a perfect idea. Thank so much for you input!</p>
<p>Tawny....one other idea but I don't know if it would be effective but you have nothing to lose......approach the FA office at NYU with your free ride offer at Harvard and tell them you would rather study film at Tisch and if there is anything they can do to lessen the difference in FA offers at the two schools. I have a daughter who goes to Brown. I recall when she got in there, and she is on financial aid, they said you could not present a better financial aid package to them from a school that is NOT on par with them (for instance, a top student like my D was had a free ride at one school and a huge scholarship at another safety school which tried to entice students like her to attend and these could not be shown on any appeal to Brown), but they WOULD look at a FA offer from another Ivy league school....another school, in other words, on their "level". Perhaps NYU would be willing to look at an offer from an Ivy that you got, I have NO idea. You could present this situation to them. However, Harvard has a much bigger endowment than NYU and has initiatives to fund low income students. NYU may not be able to match that but you can ask. Good luck but look openly at Harvard. This time next year, if you are there, I am pretty sure you will be having a great time and can still go into film. There are some people who even think a good filmmaker benefits from a broader liberal arts background. This is still a good option for you, not that Tisch isn't!</p>
<p>Tawny...Congratulations on your wonderful scholarship to Harvard! Boston is an incredible place to attend college. I can understand that you are disappointed about the scholarship difference that was awarded to you from NYU. It can't hurt to discuss this with their financial office, but I would spend a great deal of time researching what Harvard and the Boston area have to offer. I think that many students interested in film do attend grad school and I would think that an undergraduate degree from Harvard would open many doors for what ever you decide to do in the future.</p>
<p>I have been reading all of the comments in the Musical Theatre section of this site. I have a daughter who is a Junior and has applied to several summer pre-college programs. She has gone to Interlochen the last two summers and has been accepted again,but thinking maybe a college program would be a new experience. She has been accepted to Carnegie Mellon and waiting to hear from NYU Tisch and U of Michigan. Do you have any info on other students who attended these programs? Thanks for any input!</p>
<p>To anyone that has any info on pre-college summer programs....like Carnegie Mellon, NYU Tisch, or University of Michigan? THanks</p>
<p>there is a great deal of info about CMU's summer program on the CMU thread.</p>
<p>To Dancemother --</p>
<p>My junior daughter also applied to the NYU Tisch CAP 21 program for this summer and is still waiting to hear. She did UMich's program last summer and thought it was a terrific experience. They worked hard, starting generally I think with dance in the morning and going straight through with a variety of classes and rehearsal until late in the evening. She learned a great deal, with careful attention being paid to the lyrics of the songs studied (i.e., why they may have been chosen, what they meant, and how they should be portrayed, etc.) She made many close friends, most of whom are seniors and have been admitted to a variety of excellent MT and VP programs, including UMich, CMU, CCM, OCU and University of Indiana (for voice). </p>
<p>She was also accepted last year to CMU, but did not go, although I think it is an excellent program in terms of audition preparation. She would have been thrilled to go to CMU had UMich not worked out. </p>
<p>She is anxious to hear from NYU as I am sure your daughter is. I guess the first week of May is still the target date.</p>