Okay so I’ve narrowed down what I want to do and the two schools I really want to get into, there’s just one problem: one of them is free and the other is $60,000 a year. I know the free one requires different sacrifices and liabilities but $60,000 is nothing to sneeze at! I feel confident in my ability to get into both, but at the end of the day I don’t want to be in debt for the rest of my life. I won’t get any financial support from my parents, so there’s no luck there. Could someone please help me figure this out?
If you are paying for college all by yourself…NYU is likely not going to be affordable. The school does NOT guarantee to meet full need for all…and they do NOT.
If the net price calculator on the NYU website says you will be paying $60,000 a year…you will be paying at LEAST that amount at NYU. The cost of attendance at NYU is actually above $70,000 a year.
The USNA is awesome…but are you 100% sure you will receive an appointment? If not…you need some other options…and ones that you can afford to attend.
You can’t be sure you’ll get into the USNA.
(Have you secured your official nomination yet?)
And you cannot borrow more than $5,500 as a freshman so unless you live in NYC and are eligible for HEOP, NYU isn’t happening (even if you’re in NYC and qualify for HEOP it’s not a given).
What do you like about the USNA? About NYU?
(They’re both totally different, especially since one implies lots of autonomy and the other requires zero autonomy).
Your list should include two affordable safeties, 3-5 affordable matches, and then only you adf reaches.
To know if a college is affordable, run the NPC.