Hello College Confidential! I’m a new user and happy I’ve joined the community. I’m currently an incoming high school senior in a suburban town in Ohio. All my life I’ve had big dreams as far as college goes. I’ve wanted to go to a prestigious university in a bigger city. Currently, I’m falling in love with NYU. My parents don’t agree with my college endeavors and want to me stay in Ohio for financial reasons. I’ve researched scholarships A LOT lately, and compiled a long list of scholarships and grants I qualify for and plan to apply. Just curious on your opinions, what are your thoughts on scholarships? Is it a rigorous and time consuming process? So I not waste my time on applying to all these scholarships?
And for the FAFSA, do I fill it out once (obviously new one a year) and I’m good to send it to all the scholarships and schools I’m applying to, or do I have to fill out a new one for every scholarship/ school? I’ve tried looking it up but nothing on the Internet gives me a clear answer.
Heads up: NYU is probably the worst college in the country to fall in love with if you want scholarships & financial aid. Feel free to apply, but only if you also apply to instate universities and financial safeties.
Also, when you say scholarships, are you talking about outside scholarships (ones not affiliated with a specific school)? If so, only apply to these after looking for schools that will give you merit for your stats, and applying for any competitive scholarships at these schools and beyond. Outside scholarships are not to be counted on for anything.
You only fill out one FAFSA. It may need to be updated when your parents file their 2015 taxes.
Yes, I am talking about outside scholarships, not affiliated with a specific school.
Yeah, no, as you correctly guess, this is not a good time investment/reward ratio. Apply to outside scholarships if you want, but after everything else. Your default assumption should be that you won’t be paying for NYU with outside scholarships – or probably at all. They’re notorious for terrible aid.
Focus on finding safety schools where you’ll get merit, and/or instate schools that your family can afford. You can also apply to NYU, but at least then you’ll have back up options if (probably when) their financial aid package makes the school unaffordable.
In addition to the FAFSA your family will need to complete the CSS Profike every year for NYU. It is a more detailed financial aid application form. It asks for much more information than the FAFSA.
NYU does not promise to meet full need… And it does not. The school costs in the $72,000 a year range now. His much of that will your parents pay?
Need based aid is based on parent on one and assets. NYU usually does not fill the gap between cost of attendance and aid.
What are your SAT or ACT scores. and your GPA? Good enough for competitive merit aid?
Don’t expect large amounts from outside scholarships, they are rare. Also, most are not renewable even you get it. So don’t count on it when you apply to schools. Focus more on your match and financial match schools.
Best approach to college applications is similar to house hunting: don’t fall in love with ANY school. Make a good list of schools that you would happily attend, include some reaches, matches and safeties academically and financially.
For high stats kids, acceptances and aid are both very difficult to predict, so cast a wide net.
But “falling in love” with a college is a setup for heartbreak if (1) you are rejected, or (2) you are accepted but can’t afford it.
Nothing wrong with NYU, it’s a fantastic school in an amazing location, but with a high price tag. Apply, but don’t fall in love.
Even this low income student is expected to take 25k or so loans every year. You are going to pay a lot to go to NYU. A lot more for an instate school and a lot more than many OOS schools. It is naive to think you will get thousands of dollars of outside scholarships that renew every year.
Please read this thread. This student got so invested in NYU they didn’t give themselves any alternatives and now they are locked into thinking they must go there at any and all costs. They have no perspective, clear thinking or sensible parent adviser on the subject. Even though there are still alternatives. They simply are frozen into only one ruinous action because they lack the ability to conceive of any other path for themselves. They are frozen into a mental trap of their own making and will be paying and crippled by this debt for 20 years likely. Getting accepted to NYU has already cost this student dearly, s/he is now in a mental prison and will soon be in a debt prison. Hope it is all worth it for ‘living the life’ for the precious time until they have to leave due to lack of funds.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1792760-parent-plus-loan-denied-was-relying-on-it-for-remainder-of-my-tuition-p6.html
So run the price calculator to see what you would realistically have to pay, and figure out if it is really worth your time and mental investment to apply.