Please Help Me Understand My Financial Aid Package for NYU

Paying for College
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<p>why the heck did I do this for four years if I did not benefit from this.</p>

<p>To be blunt…you will benefit from all your hard work no matter where you go. And…unfortunately, you were not advised well when you were choosing schools to apply to. </p>

<p>I think you’re putting too much into this idea that it’s NYU-poly or else for engineering. My H went to Big 10 schools for undergrad and grad…and he makes very good money. My brothers went to Cal States for undergrad and USC for grad school, and one is a VP for DirecTV and the other is a Director for Canon USA. </p>

<p>All three “worked their tails off” in high school…</p>

<p>What schools have you been accepted to…and what FA packages have you gotten from them?</p>

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<p>University of New Haven</p>

<p>COA: 45,678
Free Money: 29,450
Student Loans:5,500
Parent Loans: 10,728
Gap: 16,228</p>

<p>Purdue: Admitted Pending FA Package</p>

<p>COA: 40,367
Free Money:
Student Loans:
Parent Loans:
Gap:</p>

<p>University of Wyoming</p>

<p>COA: 11,646
Free Money: 10,365
Student Loans:1,500 (unsubsidized)
Parent Loans:0
Gap: 1,099</p>

<p>RPI - Declined ED since they would not increase aid</p>

<p>COA: 52,160
Free Money: 18,000
Student Loans:6,734
Parent Loans: 27,462
Gap: 34,160</p>

<p>Georgia Tech - Wait Listed (Pending)</p>

<p>COA:
Free Money:
Student Loans:
Parent Loans:
Gap:</p>

<p>NYU</p>

<p>COA: 47,544
Free Money: 22,300
Student Loans: 6,500
Parent Loans: 21,264
Gap: 26,258</p>

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<p>Rose-Hulman has a chemE undergrad, rolling admissions and merit…it’s getting late, but worth a look as I think they might still be taking applications. Rose Hulman also “turns out” good engineers. U Minnesota is one of the top/best ChemE schools …don’t see on your list so unfortunately that might be a miss… has very decent costs for out of state kids but it’s getting late in the game so don’t know if you can jump in at this point. Those were just two that came to mind (my former company recruits ChemEs so I was trying to think of places that are on our recruiting list). I’m not familiar with NYU Poly so sorry about the comment regarding NYU and engineering, I honestly didn’t know they had that offering.</p>

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<p>So why not go to Wyoming?</p>

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<p>Because I do not know how well respected Wyoming is among engineering.</p>

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<p>Chem - my son is staying at NYU, but it is our daughter who did not apply as we couldn’t afford to have two there. He did what you did and busted his tail to get accepted. My daughter has worked as hard as well, but will simply be going somewhere that is either affordable or offers a good financial aid package. You may be sorry if you take on 100k or more in loans. And, to speak to an issue you brought up early, there are A LOT of partyers at NYU. My son is a very serious artist and finally applied to “Choices” dorm program (commitment to be substance-free). During his freshman year, he had two roommates who drank and smoked weed on a daily basis, used his bed as an ashtray and kept him up half the night. Interestingly, there is ONE floor in all of NYU’s many upper class dorms for this program. So be realistic about how you are seeing the school. You may be surprised at this part of the student culture. Also, they always put work study as part of FA package, but my son applied for every single posted work study job that fit his schedule and never even got a phone call. Their cafeterias and other work study-type jobs are not filled by students. Not sure what the deal is there. I am sorry for the place this has put you in. We felt really deceived by NYU’s marketing materials, encouraging everyone to apply, even if you have no money. And the average indebtedness at graduation that they post is only for student loans. When I called FA and forced the issue pointing out how their marketing and stats on financial aid do not match reality, the person finally admitted that even if students graduated with an average indebtedness of 30k, their PARENTS frequently have indebtedness in the form of PLUS loans of 100k or more! That figure is listed NOWHERE! I wish you the best of luck in figuring this out. Even though you are trying to protect your parents from all of this, it might be good for all of you to sit down and talk through all of your options.</p>

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<p>Wyoming has a good program. Plus, you could transfer elsewhere after a year or two if it didn’t suit.</p>

<p>I’m sorry that you didn’t have better advice sooner about how important it is to pick a financial safety school – one that you KNOW you can afford that you KNOW will admit you that you KNOW you are willing to attend. There’s nothing wrong in applying to dream schools, but now you seem to be in the position that the only school you can really afford is one you don’t really want to attend. That’s sad.</p>

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<p>Well its not that I don’t like Wyoming, infact I visited it and I even had a one on one with a Chemical Engineering Professor from Poland, he gave me a lot of ideas for my IB Chemistry Extended Essay, talked to me about the things I could do with Chemical Engineering at U. Wyoming, the curriculum, etc., and I was thrilled by the small classes in engineering and great outdoors! Its just that uncertainty is raised when I was told to apply to other schools and then I drove away from focusing on close by colleges. My counselor did not even mention the danger of outrageous costs and now that I got in to colleges not within my reach, I don’t know. I mean Wyoming is fine, but where will I get a job? I will find out from career services, but its not well know outside of the Rocky Mountain region.</p>

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<p>I will see if any negotiation can occur with NYU (I know it sounds stupid, but one last try) and if not I will go to U. Wyo or Purdue. Plus for grad school I could go to some good school, its a learning experience for me… I can’t let this impede my dreams.</p>

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<p>I’m sure we’ll all cross our fingers for Purdue for you…there were a number of very good colleges/unis for ChemE in the midwest you could have applied it’s a shame you weren’t made more aware of them. Wyoming will certainly get you where you want to go over the long haul no doubt if that is where you land. My good friend’s D was ChemE at Case Western and is now getting a graduate degree in an Ivy. Case is another one I didn’t see on your list…</p>

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<p>Yeah, I should have learned about all the options but then again I did not want to spend a lot of money on apps. Oh, thanks for keeping your fingers crossed I hope everything turns out well too :slight_smile: How would you go about doing an appeal? What documents will I have to present?</p>

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<p>Best to you!</p>

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<p>Good luck, chemE – I hope that you are able to work something out with either NYU or Purdue, as long as it doesn’t involve huge loans, and I’m glad that you had a good meeting already with the professor at Wyoming.</p>

<p>One thing not to downplay at Wyoming is the incredible access to lots and lots of current technology and to engineering enterprises that both collaborate with the university and welcome students as interns and for jobs. There will be plenty of chances for hands-on experiences that students at many other schools could only dream of. </p>

<p>Wherever you choose to go, I hope you can make the most of the resources that are available, because ultimately that will make you more employable.</p>

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<p>do think ur the only one who worked their tail off with school and extracuriculars? welcome to the life of a lot of high school students. if anything, u should have applied to ivys who only give need based FA. not to come off as a ****** but anyways good luck. im appealing my FA from nyu…</p>

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<p>Yeah joeleeblackbelt, but not a lot of HS kids take IB, do CAS, PLUS help provide for and take care of their family. Oh, and I did not apply to Ivy’s because I know I cannot afford them. Sure I could have gotten into at least one. But you know I have the right to dream and that is why applied to one, ONLY ONE great school. I too am appealing my FA and hope for the best…</p>

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<p>“Oh, and I did not apply to Ivy’s because I know I cannot afford them. Sure I could have gotten into at least one. But you know I have the right to dream and that is why applied to one, ONLY ONE great school.”</p>

<p>chemE, the ivies are more affordable than NYU. They meet full need so, at most, you would have had to take out the max in loans (and some of the ivies are no-loan schools). A great school for you would have been Cooper Union. It’s in NY, has engineering, very competitive and tuition-free. You can’t ignore facts (like lack of financial aid at a school) when you dream or you will not reach your dream.</p>

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<p>Yeah you are right, but oh well maybe grad school.</p>

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<p>Oh, and I did not apply to Ivy’s because I know I cannot afford them. Sure I could have gotten into at least one.</p>

<p>That’s what I mean by saying that you were poorly advised. Ivies don’t cost more than NYU, yet you applied to NYU. Ivies meet 100% of need without big loans…so an ivy would have given you a great FA package…with either no loans…or just a small one. </p>

<p>Why would you think that you could “afford” NYU (which gives lousy aid), yet think you couldn’t afford an ivy - which gives AWESOME aid.</p>

<p>Heck…you might consider doing a gap year and applying to an ivy in the fall.</p>

<p>What are your stats???</p>

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<p>Stats:</p>

<p>sent through pm mom2collegekids</p>

<p>Do you think I should just go to some college and then transfer into a better school? And yes I was poorly advised and many peers told me that I would make it and even my MIT interviewer did, but I have seen kids with better stats not get in and so I withdrew my MIT application so I will never know :confused: To tell you the truth my counselor said no, don’t apply you can’t get in. No one from this school who has applied in the past 20 something years have gotten in and blah blah blah… I should have known better, but what can I do now?</p>

<p>What is a “gap year”?</p>

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<p>A gap year is a year off from school. Often, people use it to do something exciting-- an internship, work, travel, community service-- something other than school. </p>

<p>What are your stats? It will help us tell you whether or not it is advisable to apply to some ‘lottery’ schools like Ivies, like MIT, like Cooper Union. Oh, and tell us what state you’re in. If you’re in MT or WY, that helps but IL, for example, won’t be much of a help.</p>