NYU’s Steinhardt school was the first “school of pedagogy” established in the US and has had an exceptional reputation for over 100 years. NYU’s law school has been in the top 10 of law schools since the ratings system began.
Get your facts straight folks.
And more. For example NYU’s “Entrepreneur Institute”: http://entrepreneur.nyu.edu/. Great program, outreach, and engagement of NYU in fostering innovation with an ecological sensibility.
My D is a graduate of NYU Wagner (school of public service; she has an MPA in nonprofit management). Wagner certainly is well known in that area. And NYU was much more open to negotiating aide on the graduate level-- they offered nothing originally, but she negotiated a 50% tuition grant. She turned down Columbia SIPA in favor of NYU in part because NYU had a part time program and was flexible about scheduling, so she was able to complete the 2-year degree in 3 years, attending evenings and weekends, while continuing to work full time.
She was not fond of NYU after spending time as a graduate student – their overall bureaucracy is very hard to work with – but she did get the education & degree she paid for. But her graduate experience left her feeling very glad that she had not attended as an undergrad. (She was one of the many NYU admits whose undergrad need based aid was insufficient).
For her specific degree, NYU is ranked top 5 by US News, though rankings don’t really mean that much in that field.
There’s nothing wrong overall with the quality of NYU’s academic offerings. In a way, NYU occupies the academic role that a flagship state U might have, if the NY state university system had one – with many of the drawbacks of a large state U. as well. Maybe that’s the source of the resentment over skimpy financial aid: here is this huge, well-located university where admissions is selective but reasonable attainable… but simply offered at a price that is not affordable for the majority of students who aspire to attend. So some apply hoping to get lucky; some have parents who are willing to borrow; and some get in and turn down the spot in favor of more affordable options.
In my daughter’s case, as an undergrad, the more affordable option happened to be an elite school that was also more prestigious and more rigorous — so as a parent I was happy, even if it left my daughter feeling frustrated at the time.
@cobrat OOS tuition, room, board and misc fees at UMich for 2017-18 freshman is ~$58,000. Juniors and seniors is over $60,000.
Its a great school, but is it $60K a year great? I have my doubts that it has an extra ~$40,000 a year worth of greatness compared to our own state flagship. I feel the same way about NYU.
Other people may feel differently, and that is fine. As long as you aren’t going into a great deal of debt to go, that’s fine. I reserve the right to think it isn’t worth that kind of money.
Say what you will, but in your son’s area of interest a degree from NYU can open doors that very few schools can. My feeling is that private schools are not a right, but a priviledge. I went to grad school at NYU. They gave me some FA. If they didn’t I would have had to go somewhere else.
With that said, your son sounds like he has a real passion for filmmaking and that is probably the most important aspect of succeeding, no matter where he goes.
Let me help,with this anecdote. HYP give only need based aid. In addition, they are amongst THE most generous colleges in the country in terms of awarding that need based aid.
If you know someone whomreceoved less,than stellar aid from HYP, than that person has a HIGH income…and/or high assets. The schools guarantee to meet full need for all…and they do…evennfor invime earners innthe $200,000 a year range…there is still some need based aid awarded.
HYP do NOT award any merit aid awards…AT ALL.
HYP don’t have randomness to their awards at all. This anecdotal group you refer to sound like they didn’t get the aid they WANTED…which likely varied quite a lot from what they actually were calculated to need by these generous schools.
@cobrat NYU was not “just a step above the CUNY’s” in the 90s.
Top 10 “Dream Colleges” in Princeton Review 2017
https://www.princetonreview.com/press/college-hopes-worries-press-release
As a huge fan of the TV show Lost, I know that Damon Lindelof went to NYU, and from what I’ve read about him, he did not come from a lot of money.
He either received one of the few merit awards for students with Ivy/peer elite contender stats or his parents took out huge loans for him to attend.
When I was applying to NYU in the mid-'90s, total tuition and fees for NYU was already $31k+/year.
Considering the measly FA situation even back then, unless he had extremely high GPA/SAT stats which would have made him a viable contender for Ivy/peer elite admissions* or his parents took out huge loans, there’s no way most kids coming from lower-middle class or low income families could have afforded attending without putting themselves into long-term debt.
Tuition at NYU was not anywhere close to 31K in the nineties, maybe you mean COA?
This link has historical tuition data as well as future tuition projections (please do not have a heart attack):
http://www.collegecalc.org/colleges/new-york/new-york-university/
^ ^
I said total tuition AND FEES as stated by NYU itself when I was looking at their materials in the mid-'90s.
@thumper1 I believe OP meant that he knows HYP acceptees that received less than stellar scholarships from NYU., the point being the HYP acceptee should be the type of student NYU is trying to attract with merit scholarships. I understood it the way you did the first time I read it then realized what he was trying to say.
@cobrat: Are you counting R&B as fees? Because I’m pretty certain NYU wasn’t charging $13K/year in fees in the mid-nineties.
I’d actually consider selling a kidney for a pair of those! 
My son attended a private HS with several VERY successful (and a few famous) alumni in the arts and journalism. Many of them are NYU and Michigan grads. The one school their theater students have been unsuccessful at breaking into is CMU. That’s the Holy Grail right now apparently.
I might add that while this HS is extremely generous with FA, the students I know of who have “made it” in the arts all come from very wealthy families, and many of them had connections before they even got to these elite programs.
I saw the delightful actress Gina Rodriguez (“Jane the Virgin”) on Colbert a week or two ago. She admitted to him she’s just NOW paying off her NYU debt. That show is in its fourth season! Worked out well for her, but it’s clear how high the stakes are for a lot of students there.
Could that be because it may take an extended period of being unable to support oneself in arts before “making it”, so that those without wealthy supportive families may have to either give up the idea of a career in arts, or do arts only part time (reducing the chance of success in arts) because they need some other job to pay the bills?
@ucbalumnus, I’m sure that’s part of it, too, but connections seem to be really important in a lot of these fields. Along with a lot of luck, and talent!
I know of one guy who went to an elite private LAC and from there launched an AMAZING (and award-winning, I believe) independent theater organization, which is now affiliated with a larger (not particularly prestigious) performing arts school. His troupe did a free performance at his alma mater several years ago, which I was fortunate enough to attend. When I looked at the underwriters on the program, sure enough, the biggest one was his own folks. This was probably ten years post-graduation. The arts are a tough, tough business to make it in. I’ve seen several wonderful organizations fold over the past 20 years, simply for lack of financial support.
Also, even if you don’t have a lot of connections, not having a lot of debt likely gives you a lot longer to try to make it in your field.
I looked at the link on historical tuition rates for NYU. Oy vey. What we’re going to pay for an in-state uni for our son is more than I paid for NYU back in my day. (Classes of '88 and '91.) Should I feel guilty that I have not been a generous contributor to the alumni fund? Should I feel guilty that I got a bachelors and masters degree from NYU and worked as a stay-at-home mom for the last 20 years? 
I wonder if I were to finally kick down some contributions if it would make a difference for students needing financial aid. Hmmm.
NYU-bashing threads are annoying.
If you don’t like it for yourself or your kids, don’t apply. If you love it - and get in - but can’t afford it, then don’t go. If you went there and hated it and “will never give a dime” to it, sorry; maybe you should have transferred to a better fit for you.
We are all entitled to our opinions, but sheesh, NYU is really a whipping boy here on CC. Last time I checked, it was THE most applied-to private university in the nation. So the haters are in the minority. And, these threads are insulting to the 40,000 or so students attending the university-most of whom had to be relatively intelligent, hardworking students to gain admission into any of NYU’s programs.
My kid goes there and LOVES it. The internship opportunities have been eye-popping (and I had actually pushed one of the other top-20 acceptances, which would have been a mistake). Is it for everyone? Of course not-but what college is?
It’s only the most applied to because of its location. Purely because of location. And yet it still does a poor job of giving out financial aid, somehow.