Should I apply for FAFSA if my parents are higher income?

Paying for College
21

Your scores aren’t high enough for merit from NYU. You will be full-pay.

Have your parents SAID that they will pay $70k+ per year for NYU?? Do your parents know that it costs THAT much?

PLEASE ask your parents NOW how much they’ll pay each year. With two seriously MI children, your parents may say that they can’t pay that much because they have to prepare to take care of those 2 sisters for life.


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My Math + CR is a 1330 and a 31 ACT is better than those

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2120 SAT
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You got a 790 on the Writing portion?

Anyway…submit your app to UA…very easy and quick. UA doesn’t superscore for merit, so also retest and try for the ACT 32…study all the sections, not just weaker ones.

Even if your best score ends up being the ACT 31, you will get at least 2/3 tuition award…which is about $17k per year. Remaining costs would be about $25k per year…which sounds affordable for your family.

But you have to apply BEFORE the Dec deadline, so get your app in now, send scores and transcripts.

$20k per year in loans? NO! WAY too much. Do you have any idea of how difficult that would be for a newish grad to pay back? AND…your parents would have to co-sign those loans. Horrible idea.

You’re NOT going to get $15k of free money from NYU. Your stats are too average for them. And, the income is too high.

Your parents may have NO intention of consigning those loans.


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** I don't know what my major is going to be yet.

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I’m going to apply to all the NYU schools and whichever one I get into, I’ll go to.

If I’m rejected from all of them, I’ll probably apply undeclared to Northeastern and if I’m rejected from Northeastern, I’ll go from there and decide on something. **
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Please stop this train wreck. Applying to all the NYU schools??? Tisch? You’re going to apply to Tisch? Do you know what Tisch is?? Stern? you’re applying there, too? Tandon? You’re applying there as well??

Do you even know what those NYU schools are ?

How would Northeastern be affordable??

“I’ll go from there and decide something.”

Seriously, you’re strategy is horrible.

22

@mom2collegekids I’m not applying to Tisch or Steinhardt. I am applying to Stern (though I won’t get into Stern) and Tandon. I really want to go to CAS, that’s my first choice school. And yes, I know what the schools are. I’ve researched the school extensively and visited it. All I want to know is if I should fill out a FAFSA application or not. My family will figure out a way to pay for NYU if I get in, and that’s a big if. My parents have even said so.

23

@mom2collegekids And I did get a 790 on writing, always my best section. And a 2120 is super score, not one sitting.

24

I do think you should apply to, and explore some other options. I certainly would want to go where I am more valued as a student.

If you want to see if you get in to NYU, as you say. You can always fill out the FAFSA if NYU indicates it may be helpful. However are your parents keen on paying for NYU if you get in?

Your test scores improve, that could help you with more school options. But you also are under admission and scholarship deadlines for other schools too.

25

Well, if you’re going to take out loans, the first loans to take are the federal direct loans. And if you are going to take the federal direct loans, you must submit the FAFSA.

26

Yes,you need to fill out FAFSA for your loans. That’s 5.5K. you’ll get them regardless of how much your parents make.

Please don’t make your parents borrow for you (“we’ll figure it out” typically means “hopefully something will happen that makes it possible”, with in the overwhelming number of situations in the Spring the student stranded with no financial safety and forced to take a gap year or go to community college, or parents having to borrow - and with three kids it’s unlikely they could qualify for all 4 years.)
You’re very likely to be full pay at both NYU and Northeastern.

Tandon may be possible. Stern isn’t so don’t waste time and money. That leaves CAS and Tandon. I believe you can only list a 1st and 2nd choice anyway, + NYU A-D and NYU-S.
Between CAS and Tandon, which would be your first choice? Why? What major would put for each college?

Apply to Fordham EA if you want to be in the city.
New Paltz or Marist for a safety (Marist is 1H30 from NYC and has an excellent CS program linked to IBM, New Paltz is a SUNY so should be less expensive and is 1H from the city).
If you want to be in a city, apply to Pitt, DePaul, Loyola-Chicago, UMN-Twin Cities, Hamline, Goucher, Bryn Mawr (if a girl), American, Agnes Scott (if a girl), Eckerd, UTampa, SDSU, Occidental, UPortland, Lewis&Clark, USeattle.
I’d add Skidmore, St Olaf, Butler, Drake, which are in nice college towns not far from a city.

Why do you like NYU exactly?

Your application strategy is really … not a strategy. If you only apply to Northeastern and NYU this Fall and wait for their response, then you miss all the merit scholarship deadlines (Dec 1st) and you guarantee that your applications due Jan 1st will be bad (you’ll be recovering from the disappointment of not getting into NYU or the realization of its costs, and you’ll have two weeks in the middle of holidays to complete several applications…)

You need to have 2 safeties which are affordable and where you’re willing to go - perhaps apply EA so that you have that down for sure; then at least 3 matches, where you’re near top 25% and well-above the average, that you can afford with the federal loans. ONLY then do you apply to your reaches.

27

@MYOS1634 I have 2 safeties, TCNJ and Rutgers, both affordable state schools. And NYU isn’t necessarily a reach school. NYU’s average ACT is a 30 and I got a 31, and their average GPA from my school is a 3.92 and I have a 3.96, so it’s more of a target school. I’m applying to 7 total schools, 3 EA/ED (1 of them safety) and then if I’m rejected from NYU or NEU, I’ll apply to 4 more.

28

Sure, apply. If you go to NYU, you’ll need the loans.

29

NYU doesn’t “meet need”, which means they’ll only give you money if you’re top 5-10%. Your score doesn’t qualify - you’re squarely among the top 60%. Its selectivity alone doesn’t make it a target school - it’d be a target if you had 32+.

If you’re applying undecided, you’re okay for TCNJ and Rutgers, although I’d call them a low match rather than a safety (unless your Naviance has clearer, school-specific statistics).

30

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then if I’m rejected from NYU or NEU, I’ll apply to 4 more.
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Keep in mind that if you apply after ED results go out, you’ll lose out on many schools’ merit scholarship deadlines…so that’s very risky.

31

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And NYU isn’t necessarily a reach school. NYU’s average ACT is a 30 and I got a 31,
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The average ACT score doesn’t make a school a reach or match if it has a lowish admit rate.

That said, you’re wanting merit and in that regard, NYU is a high reach. NYU isn’t going to give merit to someone around the middle. Merit is given to a select group that is within the high upper quartile.