NYU offers very few merit scholarships...that is scholarships without any financial need. In either case, all scholarships are listed on the financial aid package..whether it is need based or not.
I'm not sure one can actually answer that. They seem to practice Hybrid Aid (I'm having SO much fun using that term, now that another CCer coined it!)...You might get merit aid IF you qualify for it...but even THEN...possibly only if you ALSO have need.
What school is it in? Tisch, I think, has a Trustee...so if it's "merit" based...then..at Tisch it's TALENT based, unless that person is also a very high academic perforing student and I THINK they stopped those academic scholarships at Tisch...at least I read another CCer to say that's what they were told last year. So...it's hard to put a title on it. I'm guessing you got it, or someone you know got it, and you're trying to figure out why. Not sure you'll ever get a definitive answer to that. Seems to be they work in reverse. "Let's see...we really want this one...how much money do they have?...OH! Well, they're rich so let's just admit them, they'll pay full fare". Versus "Oh, we really want this one. They're poor...let's see what we can do in terms of aid". My TOTALLY unfounded opinion.
D is in Steinhardt...we had no financial need...we did not even fill out the FAFSA because the numbers were obviously too high. D was accepted into a talent-based music program and was granted an academic merit aid scholarship. At least that is what it had always been and the head of the department had awarded it to his top academic (non-need) students in previous years. However. somewhere along the way, D was not given the award by financial aid, because it was changed to a need-based award. As of 2008, no academic merit aid awards were given out in Steinhardt...even to people who made their scholar's program as my daughter did.
Luckily, the dept head partitioned the school for her to receive a talent based merit award. My understanding is that currently these are the only awards being given by Steinhardt if you do not show need.
They are given to music and art students for their talent regardless of need. Many other students still receive academic and talent merit aid as part of their financial aid packages, but they are the "hybrid" merit scholarships that R124.... is referring to. They are availble for talent based programs at Tisch as well.
As for the other schools, Stern no longer grants any merit aid and CAS does to some special academic achievers (Intel winners, etc.)
College9666...of whom are you asking "are you sure"?
If you're talking about the answer that CAS gives their awards to "Intel winners", etc...that's not correct as I know the stats of some people who got the $25,000 in CAS. There is an ED girl on here who got a 36 in the ACT, but said that's by FAR her greatest accomplishment. And that is for the TOP ($25000) scholarship. The $10,000-$15,000 stats would then be given for lower stats of course.
Top 5% (ish) of the CAS class gets into Honors at CAS, and some/most/many/all of them get SOME sort of money (or so says ONE page of the website anyway). Maybe ED is only compared against other ED applicants. So you're in Honors, right? You got a 29ACT? I think, if you also show financial need...they weigh that into their offer.
Are you saying that NYU is giving all this merit aid to CAS students without financial need?
That is not what I have heard at all.
I know of many students who receive merit aid as part of their financial aid packages. However, I do not know of students in CAS who are getting merit aid without need..ie, EFC above the cost of NYU or not filed at all.
My understanding (based on converstions with the financial aid office) is that students who get true merit awards have special academic achievements.
Uskoolfish...No, I'm saying sort of the opposite. I THINK it's sort of "hybrid". They may exhibit merit, but THEN their needs are also checked and it seems that they've gotten MORE if they had financial need. But I've also had kids say they got the top scholly's without much need, so....? Dunno. I do know it's "in flux" (probably all schools are right now...who knows how many admits at any given school will be able to attend in these tough economic times...as opposed to 5 years ago. I bet their admissions/yield are changing a measurable amount each year. And I'd guess that might affect their merit aid offers...? But who knows. )
This is the page that says that CAS Honors students admitted directly as freshmen receive scholarships. Maybe it's just an old page, I stumbled across it while researching. Gosh I sure HOPE that merit aid hasn't been discontinued! I know of an ED student who just got the top award, as I mentioned, with a 36 ACT. I have (had!?) my fingers crossed my D could slip into that scholarship too. Wasn't holding my breath, but still...to know it's not even out there at all!? Yikes.
As for NMF...my D is a semi-finalist so I've looked at it and it's nothing even worth mentioning, as far as how much it is. I think I remember it being "the usual" that most colleges offer ($1,000-$2,000...darn it).
The "in flux" part is quite true. But unfortunately it seems to be going away from true merit aid and towards those with financial need only.
To further define this "hybrid" form of merit aid, you have to begin by defining two separate categories of students: those who have need and those who don't. You don't have need if your EFC is above the cost of attendance. If your EFC falls below the cost of attending, then you show financial need. It is very black and white.
So as a starting point, if you don't have any need, very few forms of merit aid is available (as I have previously stated.) Only talent and the Intel awards are of any substance. As you stated, awards for NMF for merit only are token awards.
If you do fall into the financial need category, then many more forms of "merit" scholarships are available. The one thing you can count on is that is extremely unlikely that they will meet your full need. But one can be hopeful. And here I think it comes into play as to how much they really want you to attend. They may meet full need for someone with very high stats, leadership or whatever makes them stand out.
I think my daughter's case proves the point about how things work. Although she was recommended for academic merit aid, she was not given any of it because of our lack of need (on paper.) The director of her dep't knew her from a summer program she attended and knew our financial situation (too "rich" to receive aid, too "poor" to attend without some help.) He had believed the merit aid he was awarding was not need based, but the policy changed without his knowledge. No amount of fighting on his part could get her the money from that award. So he needed to file for a talent award instead and got permission from the provost because he had already awarded all the money he had available for talent.
We were lucky that he really wanted our D to attend and fought for what he had hoped she would get.
But overall, I would say that NYU's yield is still high. There seems to be a lot of parents and students who either have the money or are willing to take out loans to pay.
We have a younger D who may apply in 2 years. I know from the start that her only chance to get $ is for her to apply as a music or art major!
