Paying for NEU's high price tag?

<p>I'm worried about the amount that this school costs. I heard that the financial aid package is not the biggest. I know that I could get some merit aid but not a ton (I take full I.B. courses, I am very, ver, very active in clubs, organizations and groups. I have a gpa of 3.47, but that is without my I.B. credit.I havent taken the SAT's yet (I'm only a Junior =/ ).
What else can be done?
I've looked for scholarships and everything.
I plan on applying for their school of art media and design. I want to learn broadcast journalism and law. Are there scholarships for that?
I've hunted all over the site, i've gone to open houses and can't find any.</p>

<p>Thank you in advance!
^_^</p>

<p>Well Northeastern doesn’t have a scholarship for art, media and design or for broadcast journalism, or for any other subject-specific thing. Once you get here, you can get grants for research based on your major or subject, but not actual scholarships.</p>

<p>However there HAS to be scholarships for broadcast journalism SOMEWHERE in the world that you can apply to. Northeastern has merit and need-based aid, but it shouldn’t be the only place you look for money. Some high schools have scholarships, states have scholarships, your parents’ employers, scholarships from large corporations, from churches… Seriously, they are everywhere.</p>

<p>And if you don’t get any, there is always stafford. :)</p>

<p>Also, just in case you were wondering, I was a full IB student with a 3.6 unweighted and 4.5 weighted, and I got 14k.</p>

<p>@neuchimie</p>

<p>Thanks for replying.I’ll make sure to do what you said.
And was that scholarship you got from NEU? And was it because you were an I.B. student?</p>

<p>Do some research on other threads. In general, most student are either chasing merit-based scholarships OR need-based Financial Aid based on low EFC (Expected Family Contribution, which can be loosely estimated with online calculators… most families find it shockingly high / unaffordable). </p>

<p>Usually you can’t combine merit$ and FA.</p>

<p>My money was a dean’s scholarship (aka merit aid) from Northeastern. I don’t think IB has scholarships… They might, actually, but you probably have to be crazy smart and get all 7s or something haha</p>

<p>I just want to somewhat disagree with above. “Financial aid” actually includes EVERYTHING that isn’t merit-based, which includes loans from the government. So even though my EFC was really high and I didn’t really get anything that people consider to be need-based, I DID get “financial aid” because I was offered the full loan amounts and I accepted them.</p>

<p>But what I know you are referring to is stuff like scholarships and work study, which you can get both merit and need together, but it’s less common. Part of it is just the obvious reason that if you get a big merit scholarship, there is less money you need- so you get less need-based aid.</p>

<p>@ Colorado<em>mom
I’ll make sure to do some forum hunting then. Thanks for the advice. ^</em>^
I’ll also make sure to do my EFC calculations.</p>

<p>@neuchimie
Thank you sooo much. Your answers have helped me a lot ^_^</p>

<p>I have another question for you.
When I whent to the opn house they talked about gpa’s and how they’re recalculated. So lfor HL courses it’s plus 10, SL courses it plus 5 (on the grade for any individual class) then the gpa is recalculated on a 4.0 scale. Then that is what they look at. </p>

<p>So is that what they really look at? And is that what they use to determine merit aid? Because if that’s true all I.B. and A.P. students have the highest gpa’s of the entering freshman class.</p>

<p>It’s true… “Financial aid” and even “scholarship” terms can mean different things. </p>

<p>It’s best to always say “need-based Financial Aid” (which can be made up of grants, loans of varying types, and work study). And merit-based awards. And there are times where getting a merit-base award means less loans/work-study. </p>

<p>But in the initial college searching stage, knowing EFC=0 or EFC=$99K (the extremes) is helpful. </p>

<p>Note that FAFSA gives a good break for multiple students (ie if EFC=$40K, EFC per student in $20K with 2 students in college). That is used for federal $ calculations (loans and sometimes grants). Some private schools use FAFSA formula, but most use CSS Profile, which is makes things harder to predict and does not seem to give as good a break for multiple student. </p>

<p>For IB coursework, you probalby won’t find many “IB Scholarships”. But the IB rigor is recognized and can help on admissions and scholarships. Also at some schools, including NEU, there is a lot of credit available for HL courses.</p>