NYU's CAS Scholarship?

Hi everyone. I found out that I am not eligible for the CAS Scholarship, despite the fact that i have a 2220 SAT superscore, 780 on SAT II math, 35 on the ACT, and a 3.6 GPA. I am also invited to be a Presidential Honors Scholars member, meaning I’m already within the top 10% of the freshmen class. I’m also a Finalist for the National Merit Scholarship Program as well. Is there a reason as to why I was not given any merit-based aid? My financial aid only covers unsubsidized and federal plus loans (5.5k and 50.878k respectively). No Pell Grants either.

NYU is very awful with aid and merit.

Pell Grants are for low income students. Since you only got unsub loans, then your EFC must be high.

what is your FAFSA EFC? How much will your parents pay each year?

This school is not affordable. What is your major and career goal? @1kirigiri

hi, thanks for the reply @mom2collegekids
my major is computer science. my fafsa EFC is 69,947, all of which solely comes from my father. since i don’t want to put all the burden on him, i might work study (but acc to my financial aid summary, im not eligible) or get a part-time job. i havent worked all the details out yet.

unfortunately, your EFC makes you essentially full pay and not eligible for aid outside of unsub loans

Your EFC comes very close to the cost of attendance at NYU. Adding in the $5500 loan, your costs are fully covered (EFC plus loan). You are not eligible for need based aid. That’s why you didn’t get any. Did you think you would get need based aid with an EFC of $69,000 plus? That means your family income likely exceeds $200,000 a year…or,you have huge assets.

Work study is a need based financial aid award. You have no financial need…and therefore you are not going to receive a work study award.

In terms of merit aid…top 10% isn’t the top 5% of admitted students…and those are likely the admits who,got the larger merit awards. NYU does preferential packaging of merit awards, awarding more to students they want to highly attract for some reason.

NYU is not well known for merit aid.

If your family can’t the costs, time to move on to a college where they can.

@thumper1 wait, over $200,000 a year? that’s completely false. my family’s total gross income is $48,551, and this is information i took from FAFSA, so I know this for sure.

If your fafsa efc is $69,000, and income is only $48 000. You either made a HUGE error on the fafsa and Profile or your family has HUGE assets.

@thumper1 im looking through my fafsa and i found that huge mistake! is it too late to effect the change so that NYU will review it again? im trying to call both FAFSA and NYU office but both are closed at this time. i’ll contact them on monday, but do you happen to know?

You can amend your fafsa and resubmit. Contact NYU financial aid first thing Monday. Ask what to do to correct your Profile!

Did you send a tax transcript? You will need to do that too.

When you first did your fafsa. Did you link to the DRT

@thumper1 thank you so much for your help, this may very well saved my life.

after resubmitting the FAFSA, it turns out that my EFC is now below 1,000. a huge mistake was made.

no, i did not send a tax transcript. is it part of the process of amending my FAFSA? i already submitted, and it’s still in processing.

i do not believe i did link to the IRS DRT.

You need to send a tax transcript. You can this at an IRS office.

You also need to contact the college regarding your Profile. That info needs to be changed.

I’m surprised that you didn’t get some communication from NYU regarding a tax transcript.

At this point the DRT is not working so you my need to submit the tax transcript…esoeciallynsince your amended FAFSA likely has a VERY different number than the one they used to calculate your financial aid.

Still…NYU may not be an affordable option. The school does not meet full need.

Contact them first thing Monday.

@thumper1 Hey,

I just received my REVISED financial aid package from NYU. Unlike before, I actually have scholarships and grants now:

CAS Scholarship: $1,000
Pell Grant: $4,970
TAP: $2,678
Work Study: $3,000
Total: $11,648

I think the reason why I didn’t get more CAS scholarship is because I was super late. I know that’s it’s more than just how much money your family makes and that there are more complicated factors than that, but anyway, I’m still grateful I at least got SOMETHING (I kinda wish NYU still accepts NMSC scholarships though). The rest however, are all loans. The biggest is the federal PLUS loan, which they gave me $39,230 for. I’m not sure how much the interest rate is for federal PLUS loans, but I still have to ask my parents if we should reject this loan or if we can even pay back $39,230 + interest + federal loan fee.

Anyway, I want to thank you for leading me through this process. Thank God. I wouldn’t even be getting any grants/scholarships if it weren’t for your help. I know you said that NYU might not be an affordable option… but my parents still think that they can afford the tuition (they tend to put the burden on themselves quietly). You clicking on this thread, my request for help, saved me over $11k. Thank you so much.

Well…something is better than nothing…but the cost of attendance at NYU exceeds $70,000 a year.

You got $11,686 in aid…which leaves $60,000 or so left for your family to pay…not just $39,000. Where did you get the $39,000 amount?

Your parents taking out almost $150k in loans (even if they are approved for that amount of money) will place them in a financial nightmare that they will not be able to escape. They will most likely spend the rest f their lives trying to repay this debt.

If you are in NYC, you can live at home and attend CUNY for free (your TAP and Pell will cover the cost).

Even if you went to SUNY, while TAP and Pell would cover your tuition, you would still need to cover room and board.

@mom2collegekids, Are there any schools that will provide you tuition room and board as a national merit finalist that are still taking applications?

I think that you should consider taking no classes, and look at schools that will meet 100% of your demonstrated need. If you need to take the SAT subject tests, see your GC so that if you are eligible for fee waivers, you can get them. Do not take any classes and craft a new list.

NYU does not guarantee meeting need. You may not have done any better even if you had submitted a correct FAFSA on time, so please don’t beat yourself up over it.

And yes, agree with all above. This school is not affordable for you.