Thanks for this sharing this! I completely missed that info re: NUIN and federal aid. I called SFS this morning to ask how the ED financial aid pre-read would apply to a student offered NUIN. They confirmed what you said, NUIN students are “pre-matriculated”, therefore not eligible for federal grants (PELL & SEOG) until they transfer.
If you have one, check your pre-read line items. Ours had no federal aid, instead everything was lumped into university grant. This means, if accepted ED, all of the estimated aid in the pre-read could be applied toward NUIN.
Was your Northeastern financial pre-read close to the NPC (or to your FAFSA EFC)?
Northeastern wasn’t on our radar because I was under the impression it was very expensive, but I ran the NPC for it last weekend and it came out as one of the lower cost possibilities, and significantly below our EFC. Now I’m wondering if S23 or S24 should look into it more.
The NPC has a history of being fairly accurate so long as you are not divorced and do not own your own business. Print a copy of it too bc if your aid package is wildly different than your NPC, I believe they will reconsider.
I know things are different now, but when my D got in, NU SFS actually called me bc they found an error (to my favor) on our CSS and were able to give me D more aid than originally planned. She ended up getting a different merit package in the end, but I thought it was amazing that they called me.
The NPC was aprox $9k higher than our FAFSA EFC. The pre-read was much closer to our FAFSA EFC. We have a standard financial profile (married, non-business owner, mortgage, no other prop).
Northeastern wasn’t high on the list until we visited and saw the NPC was within our range. After the pre-read, D23 is certain she will apply ED2.
Northeastern has so many variations on what kind of acceptance you can get. It’s important to know all the fine print and “gotchas”: impact on financial aid, visa requirements, extra fees, room and board not included in certain cases, etc.
In our case we ultimately decided we didn’t want to deal with all this, and my daughter withdrew her application (last year). I am not dissuading anyone from applying - I’m just saying it’s crucial to know all the details and go in with eyes wide open.
Yep, good to be aware. I cannot see whatthe common app has now, but it seems that you are still applying to NU Boston, and if offered other options, (NUIN, NUBound) these are not binding for ED. Only Fall admission to Boston is binding for ED.
Then you can decide all that after that if you are admitted. For many students who really want to go to NU, the other programs are an “in” for a later semester or year and many really want NUIN now too as that program has matured. Note though, that if your student will not be 18 by late August or September, their NUIN choice of locations can be very limited by those country’s policies, not NU.
All of this info is extremely important to consider so I’m glad this is being discussed. Eyes wide open is definitely the way to go with such big decisions. We rely on that financial aid so will be hard to justify a NUin program in our case. My son was seriously considering applying ED and we did get our pre-read which came out about $12K higher than our EFC. For some families, the CSS profile works in their favor but, in our case, it allowed them to determine that our “need” was less than the FAFSA indicated. The NPC came out about $3K less than the pre-read indicated, so glad the school offered this. We now know the general COA of NU, which is very helpful. They state clearly that if our son gets a scholarship, it will being taken off the financial aid piece so that COA won’t change significantly. I think it’s great they offered this service because it helps us to be firm in our decision not to apply ED. My son will take his chances with EA and hope for the best. It would definitely be a stretch financially but perhaps we can justify it when all other offers are in. We are keeping an open mind but the reality is that the “dream school” might not happen. The good news is that my son really likes ALL his choices and could see himself happy at any of them. He’s very practical and understands our budget and he wants to keep undergrad debt low since he plans on getting a PhD in clinical psychology down the line. Going to let the whole process play out and see what happens. Appreciate all this detailed info and highlighting the fine print.
It’s wonderful NU offers this pre-read now. That is a relatively new service (last year) and clearly it provides more information to families that are reliant on FA. Sounds like your son and you are taking the right approach to all of this. Best of luck to you all. No doubt it will work out wherever he lands!
The deadline to request this for potential ED applicants was October 21st (with them promising to get your estimate by October 31st.) It took about 12 days for us (applied 10/9.) But maybe if you call and tell them you are considering ED2, they could still offer this service. Here’s the contact info:
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Our expert team of advisors is dedicated to forging financial partnerships with students and their families. We look forward to meeting you and helping make your dream of a Northeastern education a reality.
An NU admissions rep came to my sons school a few weeks ago and recommended to not send under 1470. He reiterated it he really doesn’t want to see under 1400 and told a story of how he had to reject an outstanding student who submitted a score below this threshold.
Wow-that’s crazy! My son submitted his 1450 after a lot of back & forth but I think they allow a window of time to change his status to test optional. Maybe he needs to reconsider
That seems like nothing more than a blatant attempt by Northeastern to keep the SAT range of accepted students as high as possible. It doesn’t make sense otherwise, if the applicant is indeed outstanding. Another one from NEU’s bag of tricks
My daughter is submitting her 33 ACT - so in a similar range as your son. I truly don’t believe that, if she doesn’t get in, the reason would be her 33. Of course we’ll never know . . . .
