<p>My daughter would really like to attend NYU – she wants to major in Linguistics and they truly have a top-notch program there – but the financials are looking really ugly. She got a $16K CAS scholarship but that amount is mainly based on the fact that we’re currently paying my son’s sky-high college tuition – when he graduates in 2 years, we’ll probably get no financial aid at all or maybe $5K a year or something like that!! The way college costs are rising these days, NYU’s tuition & board will probably be $65K+ during her last two years!! Yikes!!! </p>
<p>Several other schools, which cost a bit less to begin with, gave her a bit more money. Compunding my unease about “taking the leap” and paying-up for NYU was my experience at the Financial Aid Office when we went to the CAS Admitted Student Day. The young woman I spoke with could not have been more cold! If this is how they treat potential students, how do they treat people who are already “on the hook”? Scary!!! </p>
<p>With a major in Linguistics, it’s not like my daughter is going to be making $100K after she graduates. She’ll probably need or want to get a Master’s degree but our funds will be totally exhausted by then. I wish NYU would spread the merit money around a bit more, like to the top 15% of applicants instead of the top 5%. I was hoping she’d be considered for a small “pure merit” grant but she got zip (she did get 800’s on both the Verbal and Writing SAT sections but only a 670 on the Math so that probably killed it right there). I called the Admissions Office and asked if there was a “waiting list” for the “pure” merit scholarship money (assuming some of the truly exceptional people turned the offers down since they get great offers from numerous schools) but the woman practically laughed at me for asking. Even if I knew she was guaranteed like $7-8K in merit money per year for her last 2 years it would make a difference but it’s all up in the air. </p>
<p>I’m glad I’m writing this as it is clarifying my thinking. Daughter will be seriously bummed but I don’t think NYU is going to be a feasible option. Wow, this is depressing. I would like her to go there as much as she would like to but the financial obligation is TRULY TERRIFYING and there are so many uncertanties. Depressing, depressing, depressing, depressing.</p>
<p>Are you sure it’s not for all four years?! My son got a Stern scholarship and my understanding is that it is for each year with a 3.0 GPA requirement. You might want to check.</p>
<p>^^Based on my conversations with the FA officer, it seems that the scholarship part of the aid ($16,000 for you) will only be affected last when the EFC changes. So if the EFC increases, it affect the loans first, then affects the work study, finally it will affect scholarships.
It will be a good idea to calculate the EFC assuming your s is out of school. Then present the results to NYU, I am sure they will estimate it for you of the future “possible” aid amount.
The other thing they mentioned, was that after the first year, students can ask for more money. The decision will be based on their academic performance & the needs. The your D’s grades will help. Obviously, they don’t want to see the good students all transfer out due to the financial reason.
I have heard that very few students see their scholarship money go down in years. I asked this to our college Dean.
Hope these are true. I have a very similar situation so we asked A Lot of questions when we were there. To share…</p>
<p>I agree with ChargerFan and elan_xu that scholarships are rarely reduced. I’ve been monitoring this forum for several years and can’t recall ever hearing of a student in good standing having their CAS scholarship reduced. Maybe if you won the lottery or something of that magnitude, but not just because an older sibling graduated. I would think that the older sib graduating would be cause for rejoicing, since it likely frees up additional funds to cover NYU tuition increases, etc.</p>
<p>A couple other thoughts that might ease your mind a bit:</p>
<p>After freshman year your daughter can move to a dorm with a kitchen and drop the meal plan, which will definitely save money. Especially for girls, as well as for guys who are lighter eaters, the NYU meal plans are not a good value. My daughter lived in Goddard and was required to have a meal plan so she got the 10 meal plan with the maximum amount of dining dollars. She and her roommates had a mini-fridge and microwave in their room which allowed her to eat cereal, oatmeal, bagels, fruit, juice, etc. for weekday breakfast instead of “wasting” a meal swipe for such low-cost items. On the weekends, however, she would visit one of the dining halls that had good omelettes, etc. She also brought fruit, soup, and left-overs home from her dining hall dinners to eat for snacks and occasional lunches. That left her with the option to enjoy an occasional restaurant meal or quick lunch from Faye’s on the Square (Starbuck’s) or Kimmel. I do, however, recommend that all freshman have a meal plan, if only for the social advantages of communal dining.</p>
<p>By junior year your daughter will likely have had enough of dorm life and you can look for a less expensive living situation. With two or three roommates in an apartment a little further from campus she will be able to save substantially over NYU dorm rates. A lot of students leave NYU housing for their junior year because juniors get last pick in the housing lottery and the dorms available to them are the least appealing. If you plan ahead and do your homework I’m sure you can find a safe, affordable apartment off campus.</p>
<p>Hi, thanks for all that great info! Unfortunately, I just got off the phone with a nice young man from the FA Office (a vast improvement over the monosyllabic young lady last Friday who seemed like she couldn’t wait for me to leave and stop bothering her) and he said that policies have changed. While in the past they wouldn’t reduce an award based on a change in the EFC, they cannot promise that now due to “the economic environment and their budget issues.” I told him I heard that CAS awards are very rarely reduced but he said that that will no longer will be true. The way I calculate it on the College Board site, our EFC will increase from $26K to $42K after my son graduates (not only is his tuition no longer factored-in but family size decreases from 4 to 3) – he said my daughter’s award would probably be substantially reduced. I asked whether there’s a strictly merit component to the scholarship, some number of dollars that I can still count on getting if my EFC is $42K, and he said “No!!!”. So much for NYU, onto her other choices. Seriously depressing. Too bad i didn’t have kids a few years earlier – it sounds like your daughter graduated just in time, before these policies changed! </p>
<p>P.S. Thanks very much for that info about the FLAS program. Yes, she’s into foreign languages (has been taking German, Latin, French and, starting this year, Russian – gets A/A+ in all of them too!). Seems to have a gift for languages (math/science, not so much…). Will look into this FLAS thing. She apparently wants to pursue reseach or “Translation Studies” which I think may end up in her being an extremely well-spoken & multi-lingual Barista at Starbucks after graduating. (Does the UN have a Starbucks? She’d be perfect.)</p>
<p>Congrats to you and your son! I think he must’ve gotten one of those true merit scholarships (the ones I lust for!!!). Whereas your son has to maintain a 3.0, my daughter’s scholarship only requires a 2.0. I’m extremely confused about the types of scholarships but it seems like the true “pure” merit ones have fairly high GPA requirements to maintain them. I think they’re called “Dean’s” or “Scholars” or something like that??? Anyway, my daughter didn’t get one like that – I just called and verified that the amount goes down if our “EFC” goes up. Thanks anyway for your help!</p>
<p>margieNY: OUCH! I’m sorry to hear that the policy has changed. Thanks for setting the record straight on the new policy, however. Just for the record though, my daughter applied ED and was awarded only a token “CAS Scholarship”, in spite of outstanding stats, EC’s, etc. We would have been ecstatic over $16K per year. We will no doubt be “living small” for many years to come as a result of decimating our savings to provide her with this opportunity. Nevertheless, we have no regrets. As she graduates, we are more certain than ever that NYU/NYC was the best possible choice for her. It has been an amazing three years, packed with experiences I doubt she would have had at our state flagship (which she could have attended pretty much for free), and we are confident that she has received an outstanding education. We just found out last week that she has won a FLAS fellowship that will pretty much cover her masters next year, so she will be staying on at NYU! No matter where your daughter ends up, please be assured that her future is bright if she continues to build upon her language skills. Multi-lingual applicants have a leg up in almost every imaginable field and many U.S. government agencies and NGO’s are actively recruiting graduates with multiple language competencies. If you think that graduate school is likely in her future I would check potential school choices to see if they have a National Resource Center that grants FLAS fellowships for her chosen languages. Good luck!</p>
<p>Please ask to speak to a supervisor. At the window, they told me the similar thing: The scholarship is not guaranteed depends on the economic situation and all that.
When you call again please ask this question to the FA supervisor: “If my EFC goes up, what portion of my aid will be affected, the loans, the work studies, the scholarships? Or they get proportionally reduced?” I asked that specific question. No probably, no maybe, etc. Now should you go back and read my previous post, you will see that they told me the loans go away, followed by the WS, then the scholarship. With your future EFC=$42K+$16K scholarship =$58K. That is just right for the total cost. So yeah, I am confident your D will be fine.
Please ask that specific question (which goes away first)!!! I hope you feel less depressed after the call.</p>
<p>So they’re like Sprint Wireless? I have to ask for a supervisor? </p>
<p>All kidding aside, I will take your advice (and thank you very much for it!). Like you described, I did find out when I was there last Friday that a small scholarship my daughter got from my husband’s company will not reduce her aid. The woman said we had enough “cushion”. The scholarship is small and only for her first year so it’s not a really huge difference.</p>
<p>However, since they say upfront that they don’t meet “full need” (they are very honest and forthright about that), I’m not terribly hopeful that they will agree to let my daughter “keep” that $16K scholarship if our EFC shoots up to $42K for her last two years. I guess I don’t blame them since there are so many kids whose educations are in jeopardy because a parent lost their job, etc. These are really bad times for a lot of people… But I will write to a supervisor as you suggested and see what they say. </p>
<p>Thanks very much for your excellent advice!</p>
<p>Hmmmm, CASmom, you have given me much food for thought. I was indeed happy that my daughter got money. I think it’s mainly a case of “sticker shock”. I just can’t understand why college tuition keeps going up. During the height of the recession, my son’s school bragged that they were “only” raising tuition 3.5%, as opposed to the 5% increases over the previous years. Gee, thanks!! This year they raised it another 3.5%! Is there really no end to the increases? It’s going up every year even though people’s wages are stagnant!! </p>
<p>Your daughter’s experience at NYU is really comforting to me – thank you for sharing it! I know my daughter would love it at NYU and that it offers unparalled opportunities. It’s just that … I like the idea of having more than $3 in my savings account!!! Well, we’ll see what happens. My husband is much less “money anxious” than me so he’ll probably say “let’s go for it”. </p>
<p>Many congratulations to your daughter on the FLAS fellowship! How wonderful! You must be so proud of her! </p>
<p>Thanks again for your help and advice – it is much appreciated! </p>
Kinda bummed… I really liked Stern’s program.</p>