Parents of NYU undergrads... I would like your two cents. This is not a chance thread

Parent Cafe
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<p>Olivia,</p>

<p>The info you have provided (though vague) seems to indicate that you will not qualify for financial aid. You have also stated that your parents will pay $30K a year out of savings towards your education.</p>

<p>If you attend NYU the cost will be at least $60K a year. If your parents will only contribute $30K, then your gap will be at least $30K a year. Over 4 years that means you need to get another $120K total.</p>

<p>You may find an independent scholarship or grant here and there. But nothing that will come close to what you need. And the competition for top awards will be fierce. Keep in mind that many, many independent scholarships are need based, too. So your chances of getting them is low. You may find some local scholarships through your high school. My D did very well in that department because she was the president of her high school, top 5% and founded an acappella group that did a lot of find raising. Her local scholarships totaled almost $12K. But that was a 1x total (non-renewable). </p>

<p>So even if you did collect $10K in local scholarships, it would be a drop in the bucket. You would still be short by about $110K over 4 years.</p>

<p>I don’t think there is anyone on this site who can tell you how to find that amount of money unless you and your parents take out a plus loan and you take out some loans in your name. It will be a large financial burden to re-pay them.</p>

<p>I also don’t think you accurately understand the timeline for ED. You will get your acceptance and will then be given a very short period to give in your money and withdraw all your applications from other schools. If you are not happy with your NYU offer, you can chose to say no, citing financial need, but then you will have declined your offer of acceptance from NYU.</p>

<p>I admire you trying to figure out a way to make this work. However there is no easy solution. You need your parents to get more involved by at least allowing you to have a clear understanding of your EFC. Last year’s taxes are all they need to do the CSS profile. They need to do it ASAP!</p>

<p>At least then you will know where you stand in terms of financial need.</p>

<p>If the EFC is higher than the cost of a school, you will not qualify for financial aid. You may get merit aid at the right school, but NYU is probably not going to give you anything. Obviously you will find this out soon enough.</p>

<p>Some schools give merit aid without having need…many do not. You will have to research this carefully.</p>

<p>Merit aid is the only way you will make a private school work without being saddled with tremendous debt.</p>

<p>The only way I can make NYU work for my D is by using some college savings plus current income. I am lucky that I am in the position of being able to live on my husband’s income and being able to use almost all of my income towards education. Although I an 54, I am putting retirement savings from my income on hold for now.</p>

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<p>@oliviabartel,</p>

<p>You could use some cheering up, so here goes.</p>

<p>You’ve got $120K in the bank, that’s a heck of a good start. How is it invested? With some luck that will grow a bit over the next few years. If you are accepted and you attend NYU, you will know within the first year if you want to take on the risk of running out of financing to complete your degree. You have enough for 2, maybe 3 years. Things happen, opportunities arise, plans change. </p>

<p>I doubt Bob Dylan spent the 1960’s equivalent of $20K a year on lodging during his time in NYC. You can economize on housing, perhaps get a part time job waitressing.</p>

<p>Security can be a good thing, but it’s not everything. The most interesting people didn’t all live their lives conservatively and sensibly. The last shirt has no pockets (German proverb).</p>

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<p>OP, have you considered starting at your instate school and transferring to NYU after two years? That’s one of the best methods I know for financing an otherwise unaffordable school, especially when it’s unlikely that the dream school will offer scholarships or financial aid.</p>

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<p>Tuition alone will be at least $44,000/ year. And expect increases.</p>

<p>Even with low cost housing in dorms or the option of finding your own off campus housing, I would not ever expect housing to be any lower than $12,000 year.</p>

<p>So you are already at $56,000/ year. And that is without food, clothing, text books, transportation and entertainment.</p>

<p>Dreams of Bob Dylan are not going to stretch you money enough to cover more than 2 years at NYU.</p>

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<p>Olivia, Ill add my two cents - NYU wont only meet full need, but if something happens along the lines of your parents loosing all their income or savings in the four years you are there, NYU will NOT make adjustments to your package, no matter how catastrophic your situation. I am an alum, and have loved my experience at the school but had a friend who had to drop out junior year b/c of a financial situation and NYU’s unwillingness to supply a grant/scholarship to an existing student. This is just a single story, but it’s part of larger NYU policy. It’s not meant to be an anti-NYU rant, it’s just that one must understand all the issues going into NYU with a shaky position you have (too much to qualify for aid, too little for comfort).<br>
I would also like to add that perhaps one of the best places to study public health policy is Georgetown’s School of Nursing. Also Vanderbilt - where they are actually need blind and have an amazing program. NYU is amazing for art film and economics. Beyond that, they have great marketing.</p>

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<p>"If I can make NYU work for me then I don’t really care if I get in for free elsewhere. Don’t really care if any of you have an opinion on that, either. Your idea of what is practical is clearly different than mine. That’s definitely been established. I have parents too. Not like I haven’t heard these things before. I also have my own common sense?</p>

<p>I don’t think I’m so enchanted with the school its made me blind, either. But it does have everything I want it to have in terms of the opportunities I want for ME as a student. There are other colleges that come close, but don’t quite hit the mark."</p>

<p>Olivia, these parents & alums have been telling you that “dream school” is a fine concept, but if your parents are not able or willing to foot the bill, and you do not have a ton of cash in the bank yourself, and NYU is not going to give you much $$ (which they are not, I know a bunch of NYU students and Good Luck is all there is to say on money from that place)—then you are not going to go there without taking out very large debt!</p>

<p>And that is Reality. Dream, schmeem, as they say in New York.</p>

<p>As far as scholarships go, your parents have to fill out the FAFSA, etc etc and you will learn what kind of aid you are eligible for. </p>

<p>I can tell you right now–my H & I have a lower income than your parents, but not way lower, and our daughter only qualifies for a 5.5 k/yr loan. She also has a merit scholarship (that is MERIT, not need based) at her private liberal arts universiity — and we pay the rest. And we are 59 yr old, older than your parents. We pay our part from monthly income, it is $3100/month (the tuition payment, not our income).</p>

<p>So, your parents are not going to qualify for much needs based aid. This is the truth and whether you like it or not you are going to have to live with it. </p>

<p>You can also join sites such as fastweb, which your GC has certainly told you about, and apply for every scholarship you can find. Happy hunting. </p>

<p>You can also bring up your grades quite a bit so you would qualify for merit scholarships, especially local ones, and apply for them. The kind the Rotary, Lions, DAR, etc offer to students in your town. You are not competing with every student in the nation for those. </p>

<p>Another thing you could do is grow up and cut the snark. These people are trying to help you. You asked for their advice and they are giving it. </p>

<p>If you are hellbent on going to NYU then you could do what I did when I was hellbent on attending an Ivy—I worked for several years after high school and saved every dime before I applied there. I lived with my folks while doing it ( no rent). It was hell seeing all my friends go to college while I was driving to a crummy job but I did get to go to my own “dream school.” That was my choice and I got a great education for having put out the effort. </p>

<p>Stay at home a few years and work like a dog, doing overtime, two jobs, whatever-- then take your savings & go to NYU on them. </p>

<p>Or, take the wise advice some have given— go to a way less expensive place for undergrad and then you will be able to attend law school unburdened by crushing debt.</p>

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<p>I actually have considered going to CU (18-20k/yr) for two years to get general credits out of the way, and then transferring. My concern is relying on that and then not getting in as a transfer. </p>

<p>Worse, I’ve heard that transfers into NYU have trouble adjusting and making friends because the community environment is so different. Going that route, I would only have around $40k in debt (assuming I could graduate in four years) but the transfer credits might not go over properly, in which case I’d have $100k in debt with a fifth year. </p>

<p>My parents and I have not discussed me doing a work-study which could be significant (maybe 6k a year?) or them paying for some with supplemental income. Plus a minimum loan and maybe some local scholarships, grants, and other random ones I apply for, I think it is possible to make ends meet. I’m not comfortable with taking a gap year.</p>

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<p>If you plan going to any kind of Grad. School, go to UG as cheaply as possible, the best for free. It depends much more on student what you get out of your UG years, than the name of your UG. This does not apply to one with unlimited resources though. Loans for UG do not make much sense whatsoever.</p>

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<p>I have plans for graduate school but I’m not entirely sure yet if I want to go! I suppose I should keep that in mind though.</p>

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<p>Olivia, I hope you will apply to NYU still, but do so RD. The differential in the admit rate between ED and RD is not that much – less than 10%. This is university-wide, so you don’t know how it breaks down by college, but I think that you have nearly as reasonable a chance in RD as ED. </p>

<p>Keep your options open!</p>

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<p>Really good post JRZMom!!! Olivia, perhaps you could thank all these caring parents for trying their best to help you even if it wasn’t what you wanted to hear. Good Luck with your applications.</p>

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<p>Olivia-work study is awarded by the university (if they determine there is need) at their discretion as part of the FA package. As many have pointed out, the odds of you qualifying for need based aid are low, and even if you did, the work study would go toward the “need”, not towards the family contribution. You could try to get a non work study, off campus job, but some students find it can be harder to find ones flexible enough to work around class schedules.</p>

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<p>Olivia, my D is a sophomore at Tisch. I am a single, middle class mom and work two jobs. We had no savings because of a divorce and a drug-addicted S (clean now, but it took some $$$). At any rate, we are not wealthy by any means and lots of students there are not.</p>

<p>1) How are they coping with the campus (or lack of one) environment since it’s a bit different than other schools? D LOVES it at NYU and LOVES NYC. She is from a smallish town but felt from the moment she got there that she was supposed to be a New Yorker. She learned the transit, learned to walk MILES every day, coped with the weather fine.</p>

<p>2) Did NYU give you any kind of financial aid package? If so, how much did the school offer? Please include very unique personal circumstances that may have lead to getting aid at a school that is pretty notorious for being hard on that. D gets $20,000+ per year from NYU plus Pell Grants…and loans. We have a very low EFC. Her dad and I both contribute what we can and she works summers, for about $20,000 per year total. The rest is paid by her Stafford loans and my Parent Loans and yes, it is a LOT. Once she graduates, what I have been contributing toward her tuition will go toward paying off my loans.</p>

<p>3) What was your admitted students high school profile like? Valedictorian, GPA 102.something weighted in a class of I believe 450+ (a 5-A School), ACT 32, SAT 1980…not great but her program weighted the audition as 50%, excellent ECs in music, dance, theatre, and some club leadership positions. </p>

<p>4) In their opinion, has their experience been positive at college so far? Are they happy with their choice? Yes, yes, yes. She is in an exceptional program and gets a small school feel in her acting studio. I think lots of the programs are like this. Even though it is a huge university, the schools within a school are not that huge. She is in a studio with about 60 other sophomores broken into smaller groups of about 15 and they are together three days a week. They get personal attention and lots of opportunities. The instructors are world class. It is painfully expensive but we consider it an investment in her future. Good Luck!</p>

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<p>Granted, my experience is from the mid-'90s, but may still be illustrative based on accounts from NYU grads from the last 5 years. </p>

<p>As an admitted applicant to NYU CAS from a low-income family, I was offered an $8,000 scholarship to cover $31,000/year total in tuition/expenses…and from what I heard from dozens of high school classmates who were admitted…I was one of the lucky ones. Moreover…being from NYC…NYU doesn’t have the same appeal/cachet that it seems to have for out-of-towners. </p>

<p>Ended up turning it down when a top-25 LAC with a stronger program in my academic field of interest offered a 75% college scholarship and the overall tuition was around $27,000. After 10+ years, am happy I got a great education and no debt to boot since 6 months after graduation. Most of my HS classmates who ended up at NYU have only recently finished off loan payments or are still paying them off today…and they’re working in high paying fields like medicine, finance, or some wall-street banks…not public health or education. </p>

<p>Also know of several 2006-8 grads who are worried about the ginormous debt they have accumulated. One is already overwhelmed with $350K worth of debt from just 2 years at NYU as a transfer student and law school…he’s wondering how’s he going to make it with the $30k public sector legal job that he’s been lucky to land in the shaky legal market.</p>

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<p>Keep in mind that the “early” part in Early Decision can be taken to refer to the decision YOU have to make. With RD you have until May 1 to make a choice, with ED your deadline is the end of December, and there is no going back. </p>

<p>So with an RD admit you would be able to weigh and compare multiple options, including finances, and make a decision based on all info. </p>

<p>With ED, you may get accepted but have to turn NYU down because it doesn’t look like enough money – and then find out in the spring that NYU would have been manageable after all – maybe the other colleges also give you weak aid so you have to pay as much to attend a college that is lower on your preference list, or maybe you win some sort of outside private scholarship that changes the economic equation somewhat. </p>

<p>RD is simply a much better option than ED in many ways. How would you feel if you have to TURN DOWN a spot at NYU in December and then something changes in a positive way and it turns out that you could have attended after all? Why do you want to box yourself into having to potentially give up a spot that is offered to you months ahead of the time when other decisions need to be made?</p>

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<p>“One is already overwhelmed with $350K worth of debt from just 2 years at NYU as a transfer student and law school…he’s wondering how’s he going to make it with the $30k public sector legal job that he’s been lucky to land in the shaky legal market.”</p>

<p>oy…</p>

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<p>the biggest downside to ED 2 is that you will not receive notification until 2/15 which is too late to submit new applications to other schools should you be denied (you should have all of your applications sent for 12/31 deadline) . </p>

<p>Your current school will most likely not send transcripts/recommendation letters to your RD schools until they know that you have either been denied EDII, accepted or turned down if accepted an early decision offer. </p>

<p>This could really delay your getting accepted RD, because the process is still going forward while you are in a holding pattern.</p>

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<p>There are so few ways this could go well, and so many ways that it could go badly, I am actually hoping, for your sake, that you get turned down by NYU.</p>

<p>That being said, Sybbie’s advice above is very sound.</p>

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<p>ED makes more sense when it improves the chance of admission. For NYU the ED rate is 33%, the RD rate 32%, not significant.</p>

<p><a href=“Research with Human Subjects”>Research with Human Subjects;

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<p>I would recommend that you go to CU, work really hard, kill the LSAT and save the rest of your money to attend NYU law (a top 6 school). Keep in mind coming from NYU undergrad does not give you a boost for NYU law school admissions.</p>