<p>I received a Presidential Honors Scholars Program invitation today, but my initial financial aid award was zero and I received no merit scholarships. My family has a max EFC of $99.9k (>$200k annual income with no mortgage, only to put things in perspective) but NYU is still not entirely affordable for me, and I would most likely come out with a significant amount of loans. If I were to write to the school asking for any financial aid or merit money, would I have significant leverage? If I receive no money at all to attend, I will probably end up going elsewhere.</p>
<p>well according to previous posts about appealing/asking for more aid, its highly unlikely they’ll give you money (at most 5,000) UNLESS you have extenuating circumstances</p>
<p>but who knows, if you give them a good reason then maybe you’ll get more $$ 
good luck!</p>
<p>I’ve never seen anyone with greater than 200k income receive any money.</p>
<p>My D also got the Presidential Honors Scholars Program invitation.
So what exactly is the Honor program?</p>
<p>Is it really for the strongest students? (it says in the letter)
Is it worth accepting the invitation?</p>
<p>I was hoping more scholarship…
Still can’t decide because of the financial package.</p>
<p>D rec’d $11k a year in true merit aid (talent scholarship for music) and our efc was very high. NYU doesn’t give much merit aid, but it is available for some highly coveted academic students as well as students talented in music, art, acting and film.</p>
<p>I mean let’s get real here: if your EFC is >99k like you said, and you’re planning on attending a school that has a COA of around 60k, did you REALLY expect to get any financial aid? And from NYU?</p>
<p>@trojanpride According to this link invitations are sent to the top 5% of the entering class.
[Honors</a> Programs, College of Arts and Science | NYU](<a href=“http://cas.nyu.edu/page/honorsprograms]Honors”>http://cas.nyu.edu/page/honorsprograms)</p>
<p>I’m in the Presidential Honors Scholars program and have been for two years and I’m still not sure what the point of it is. The only advantage it seems to offer is a free vacation for freshmen and sophomores (Florence for freshmen, choice between like 10 study abroad sites for sophomores), but nothing for juniors and seniors, so I’m thinking of dropping out. It doesn’t give you early registration for classes, better housing, better financial aid, or anything like that (which other honors colleges at other colleges offer), so I don’t think it’s a good program other than the vacations, which were amazing.</p>
<p>In short, I wouldn’t choose NYU simply because you’re in the honors program. It’s not hard to get in (anyone with a 3.7 average after freshman year can apply and easily get in, and it’s not hard to have a 3.7 average after freshman year), so it’s not exactly prestigious. The extra honors class you have to take for it is complete bull; no one shows up after the free vacation is over, and you do literally nothing in terms of learning and work. It seems that they created the program in an attempt to get undergraduate students to do useless research projects & theses (due at the end of senior year), but since the vacations end after sophomore year and there’s no incentive for doing the thesis (literally none), many people drop out during junior year.</p>
<p>Thank you ashleykingsley !!</p>
<p>Question ashleykingsley: Are the vacations free or heavily subsidized?</p>
<p>…Yeah, it matters :P</p>
<p>You pay $500 but that’s it. They pay for almost every meal (I only had to buy one lunch which was not included, and I chose to buy myself food at the airport during layovers), the plane tickets, the hotel, the cost of the activities, etc. I spent like $60 total for an 8 day trip and I bought a looooooot of souvenirs.</p>
<p>And it’s $500 no matter which destination you choose. Also you have to pay for your own visa and passport.</p>