<p>I understand, I do have fallback schools that are good with financial aid. My fallback schools include, American University, Boston University, Syracuse University, Babson College, and if anything, my state school, FSU.</p>
<p>*I do have fallback schools that are good with financial aid. My fallback schools include, American University, Boston University, Syracuse University, Babson College, and if anything, my state school, FSU. *</p>
<p>Are those schools good with FA? </p>
<p>FSU can be a safety if you’re certain that your mom will pay all costs (do you get Bright Futures)?</p>
<p>if you don’t know what aid those other schools will give you then they really aren’t fall-back schools.</p>
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<p>You are not likely to get anywhere near that amount in gift aid - that’s basically a half-COA award. You cannot afford NYU.</p>
<p>I’m unsure about how the aid works for those schools but I know my mom looked into American’s financial aid and she said it looks good. Boston University also seems to give out a quite generous financial aid, they have a nice spreadsheet that projects what they give out in aid based on the test scores and family income, and it meets my needs. Syracuse I heard offers good financial aid as well, along with Babson College. However, I know I must do more research for out of state schools. Yes, I do have bright futures in my state and I believe I do qualify for bright futures within my state.</p>
<p>Collegekid, A lot of schools that would be considered “good with aid” are schools that are generous to poor kids. That doesn’t fit your profile. I know that American and Boston give merit scholarships and that sounds like exactly what you need to target-- but I don’t think they are fall-back options for you if you NEED a lot of merit, kwim? </p>
<p>In general, schools give the most merit (like the $25K you are talking about) to top students-- like the top 10%-20%. However, they may also trickle down merit to a lot of other students== giving $5K-$10K scholarships to them. So you will want to see what % of students get merit-based scholarships. Some schools give a lot of students (like a third or half of the students) scholarships; that is called ‘tuition discounting.’ Basically, they inflate their tution and then offer a bunch of kids scholarships because they know students are more likely to attend schools where they’ve received scholarships. So it’s very hard to know what you will get. </p>
<p>Oh, and you need to rely on your OWN stats. The stats of your siblings won’t help you. I know a person who had every single person in the family graduate from a top lac (2 grandparents, both parents, 4 siblings, 2 of whom were currently attending) and was not accepted. The student’s scores were right over the 25% mark, with a rigorous schedule and ok grades-- a bit lowish for the school but the family really thought the alumni and sibling pull would help.) </p>
<p>I would also like to make a suggestion…Please look further at the FL schools and come up with more than 1 that you like. FL tuition is so affordable and they have such a generous Bright Futures scholarship, that most FL families choose to stay instate. If you have more than 1 instate acceptance you like, you will still have a choice if the privates end up not being affordable. </p>
<p>Here’s one more suggestion: If you really want an affordable out-of-state school, would you be interested in a tribal college? I don’t know much about them but it might be an interesting option.</p>
<p>[American</a> Indian Higher Education Consortium](<a href=“http://www.aihec.org/]American”>http://www.aihec.org/)</p>
<p>Do you have your Native American blood paperwork? I think for many schools that is necessary. </p>
<p>Here are the aid/merit stats for American U. NOTE that these stats are compiled ONLY using the data from freshmen who chose to attend American. These stats do NOT include the many students who may have gotten lousy aid packages and chose not to attend.</p>
<p>Financial Aid Statistics
Full-time freshman enrollment: 1,502
Number who applied for need-based aid: 1,129
Number who were judged to have need: 905
Number who were offered aid: 904
Number who had full need met: 198 ** < 25% of enrolled frosh had their need met.**
Average percent of need met: 85% (this would include merit, right???)
Average financial aid package: $31,635 (does anyone know if this figure can include merit?)
Average need-based loan: $4,109
Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $15,448
Average non-need based aid: $19,686
Average indebtedness at graduation: $36,206</p>
<p>With stats that won’t get much/any merit, I don’t know if you can count on getting a great aid package.</p>
<p>Plus, without knowing your EFC, how would anyone know what aid you’d even qualify for? If your mom is a highly paid CPA, you may have a high EFC even with 3 in school.</p>
<p>Collegekid… the schools you are looking into (American, BU and NYU) do not meet full need. Let’s assume that your mom can afford $45K per year in college expenses total. Let’s assume that this is the same amount as her EFC. Divide that in thirds, so she can afford the $15K per year you described. That means each of you need to get about $35K per year in aid. Assume that about $8K or so will be subsidized Stafford Loans and work study. That means that you are hoping for between $25K to $30K per year in grants. Since the schools you are applying to don’t have to meet this need, it is very hard to predict the outcome. Schools tend to meet the most need for the students they want the most. In that way it is based on “merit”. </p>
<p>If you research the Common Data Sets for each school, you will find what the average % of need each school meets. They include in this figure subsidized Stafford loans and work study.</p>
<p>American’s average is about 93%, BU’s 90% and NYU’s about 72% of need.</p>
<p>For example, assuming a school costs $50K and your need is $35K, at American you can expect to receive about $32,200. BU’s average aid would be about $31,500 and NYU’s financial aid would be about $25,200.</p>
<p>But remember, these numbers are “averages”. There are still going to be some kids in the equation that a school really wants who will get the full $35,000 in need, and others that they are luke warm about who might get $15,000.</p>
<p>So in any case, you will be owing the subsidized loan ($5,500 to $7,500), be expected to do work study for more money and will need to fill a gap of on average $3,000 to $10,000 per year.</p>
<p>But remember that all these calculations are assuming your mom’s EFC is actually $45,000 a year or $15,000 a child. If her EFC is higher, then your gap will be that much higher if she is only willing to pay the $15K but schools expect more.</p>
<p>Hope this helps! Good luck.</p>
<p>I cross posted with mom2collegekids. Her common data figures show American meeting only 85% of need, which would mean less money from the school and more of a gap. My numbers were from 2009.</p>
<p>When schools list the average aid, it generally is the total of subsidized loans, work study and grants/ scholarships (money that doesn’t need to be paid back.)</p>
<p>When you refer to the above awards as “merit aid”, the meaning gets muddled. True merit aid is the money given out to people who have no financial need. Their EFC’s are above the cost of the institution.</p>
<p>Money that is given out to students needing financial aid isn’t really “merit” money. They are getting it because they show need. They may get MORE of it because of merit. Generally speaking the money comes from different budgets and are called by different names.</p>
<p>BU, American and NYU all give some true merit aid. But these awards are not what the OP should expect since it seems he will show some need.</p>
<p>OP, This is the line that tells you the average merit aid award at AU: </p>
<p>Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $15,448</p>
<p>As you can see, it still leaves about $40K a year-- and that’s for the students who DO receive merit.</p>
<p>100K is not as much money as you think - she is not going to have $20K for each of 3 kids to go to college for the next four years… That is almost 2/3 of her total salary, and she still has to pay the rest of her bills.</p>
<p>Feel free to apply, but make sure you have other options, because I am sure your mom is going to tell you she can’t afford the bottom line NYU is going to give you. But apply just in case you are one of the few to get a nice package.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information! I do not mind graduating with at the most $30,000 in debt especially at NYU since the average starting salary is above $50,000 a year. In terms of getting the merit / grants at those schools do they just look at your grades / scores only? Or will they look at your application as a whole. I may not be the brightest student, but I wrote an amazing essay (says my college guidance officer who used to be an admissions officer at UPenn) and I have a lot of extracurriculars!</p>
<p>$100K is still a lot of money some places. In my community, it’s almost 2.5X the median family income. </p>
<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using CC App</p>
<p>collegekid, It depends on the school. Some schools have guaranteed merit at certain test score levels but lots of schools have smaller scholarships for kids with specific profiles. Some of these scholarships are what’s called “endowed” meaning someone donated $ to the school to fund a small scholarship (maybe $1K or $2K) for kids from their town, or kids of their heritage, or things like that. A lot of schools also have more generous scholarships for kids who have a particular activitiy-- like a scholarship for a student who is outstanding in leadership and/ or community service or an arts or athletic scholarship. You have to look at each school to see what they offer. </p>
<p>Oh, and just so you understand, all schools WILL expect you to take out about $30K in debt. That’s the first line of financial aid. So when it says that a school meets 80% of need, that’s not grant $. That’s how much of average need they meet including: work-study, student loans, grants, scholarships. Remember that some people’s need is funded 100% just by giving them a loan. And they will expect you to work in the summer and contribute that $ to college. (If you don’t find a job, it’s sort of your problem. There will still usually be several thousand dollars that you’re expected to contribute from summer earnings.)</p>
<p>Not sure where you are getting the $30K in debt total. Subsidized loans will be around $27,000 in total. If you get the average % of need met for each school based on an EFC of $45,000 per year / 3, you will still probably have a gap of at least 10K a year based on a college costing $50K. But in reality, NYU is closer to $55 to $60K. So you will probably have a gap closer to $15K x 4.</p>
<p>So if you get an average award, you will probably be in debt for about $87K over 4 years. With your stats at NYU, realistically, regardless of what essay you write, I would not count on a high package. You are probably close to the 25th %ile for GPA and SAT scores. The big packages will go to the kids who are ivy caliber who want NYU for various reasons. </p>
<p>For sure, the first thing you need to do (as others have told you) is to know your EFC.</p>
<p>Okay, I will try and figure out my EFC, I will talk with my mom about filling that out as soon as possible so then we can figure out the aid I will get. 87k in debt sounds awful… the most I want is 30k in debt. I am still retaking the ACT at the most 3 more times before I apply so hopefully my score will go up a bit more to like a 30 maybe, but who knows.</p>
<p>Collegekid 18…in order to only have about $30K in debt for all four years you will need to look at schools that meet full need. All schools will expect that you take out subsidized loans…so that will pretty much account for the loan total you want of $30K. If there is any gap at all, then you will go above that $30K total.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, very few schools meet full need, but I would search for those!</p>
<p>at NYU since the average starting salary is above $50,000 a year.</p>
<p>You can NOT look at the average salary university-wide. That is meaningless. There are grads from some schools at NYU that have HIGH starting salaries…and some with LOW starting salaries. I imagine that the average starting salary of the grads from Tisch are low, while the average starting salaries of the grads from Stern are much higher. </p>
<p>**What college within NYU will you be applying to? **</p>
<p>I will be applying to the College of Arts and Sciences or Gallatin, I heard those are the easiest to get in. However, if you have any other suggestions, I will be glad to hear them.</p>
<p>NYU is not impossible to get into but has a relatively small endowment. You will get some aid and you will get loans but unless you are a stellar candidate you will almost definitely have $100,000 in debt upon graduation. I think you should apply because we all deserve a dream school and you never know what the offer will be. You should look into scholarships geared towards native americans - if you find something - it can make things possible. To get great financial aid, look at the colleges/universities with large endowments (normally the ones that are high on the lists). Also look at schools in which your statistics are above average - they will give merit aid to bring up their student quality.</p>
<p>You will get some aid and you will get loans</p>
<p>I don’t think we know that to be true. Yes, he probably will get a loan offer, but where’s the indication that he’d get non-loan aid (grants)? We don’t even know what his EFC is. And, right now, his stats aren’t high enough for preferential pkging.</p>