<p>yeah. If you make 150k, lets say, Harvard will make the parents pay only what, 15k, less than EFC, and will give the rest in grants. NYU, the parents are gonna pay the EFC which is more than that, and the student, from what I can gather, will usually get entirely loans for the rest. </p>
<p>How is Harvard not more affordable than NYU to such a family?</p>
<p>Even if you’re way north of 300k, is Harvard actually more expensive than NYU? And if you have that much money, why do you care? :)</p>
<p>Brooklynborndad: I think you never went thru the fine print. 10% rule only apply up to $180K and that is also not same for all.
Still I think discussion is about NYU and lets stick to that. Point I was trying to make that most colleges don’t list their graduate placement information.</p>
<p>I am just a little tired of the NYU bashing. OK, a lot of schools are expensive, some of the others are not great on financial aid, enough already.</p>
<p>As some of you know, I have a child who attends NYU. I knew the cost of attendance and realistically expected zero financial aid ( and that’s what she got). Why does the OP care whether I spend my money on NYU or any other school or refuse to spend money on my child’s education at all? </p>
<p>For the record, D is enjoying her time at NYU. She likes her classes and feels she is getting a good education. Sure, she could have gotten a good education at many other schools, but that’s not the choice we made.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids: Thanks and even though I also know of teachers who have lighter schedules, most that I know do not (IB is a very demanding, but rewarding area). This is why I get testy when people who are not teachers make snide comments about teachers having an “easy” job. I am sure there are people in every profession who work very hard and many who don’t, but I am not comfortable making comments about other people’s careers if I haven’t walked in those shoes and sometimes I feel that educators are an open target. </p>
<p>Regarding the post: I think there are many ways to get an education and college is one of many. All types of education costs, whether it is the school of hard knocks or NYU. I also don’t think a college degree is necessary for everyone. What I do have concerns with is young people being convinced to spend a lot of money for their “dream” education. If a student or their parents have the money for NYU and that is what they want to do with it, that is their business. We all have financial priorities and these priorities are not always the same. Personally, everyone I know who has incurred high student loan debt (over ~$30,000) has regretted it, but I don’t know everyone. I just don’t want to be stuck paying extra taxes to cover student loans for those who decided to go into a lot of debt and then default on their obligation-no matter what the reason for their default.</p>
<p>There are two great threads in the Parent’s forum that may impact this discussion.</p>
<p>The first deals with whether a student should choose Swarthmore over OSU which would be free! This thread is found on the first page of the Parent’s forum. The older thread deals with whether it is worth “substantial debt for the dream school.” Check out these threads.</p>
<p>Whether it is worth it is up to the values of those who chose to attend. For us, it was well worth it. </p>
<p>By the way, my kid who went to NYU got as much in the way of grants as my kid who went to an Ivy league school…significant.</p>
<p>Also, I am a former teacher and one reason I gave up teaching was the hours I spent on it…I worked at school every day until 6 PM and took work home for the night and spent all of Sunday working on it as well, and significant time over the summer. It entailed so many hours that it was hard to do once I had my own kids.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this will be statistically significant,but I have a close friend who attended NYU Stern. She told me that only one person in her whole graduating class from Stern ever did anything significant in movies. Some were in some broadway plays ,but that was it.</p>
<p>Well, that is interesting, Taxguy. For one thing, Stern is a business school. They don’t train actors! :D</p>
<p>Are you speaking of Tisch by chance? If so, I could give you a long list of working actors from Tisch, including many recent grads. </p>
<p>Also, are “Broadway plays” chopped liver? 
Not everyone wants to be in film!</p>
<p>Lastly, the OP says he studied film, which is not the same as acting, and so would not be IN films but would be working in the film industry…that is what that major is about.</p>
<p>Hey guys, great comments. My point is to scrutinize the whole “higher education” decision a little more before carting kids of to college as a mandatory rite of passage. Regardless of field. Most of my peers in school were “trying to figure out what they wanted to do”, which is normal for an 18 year old. But most of them were paying $30K a year to do so. Which is insane!</p>
<p>That’s all. Though it doesn’t sound like anyone here is involved in the film industry.</p>
<p>friend of D’s attended Harvard, majored in lit, but interest was film and presented a piece at Edinburgh festival while in college- but felt that the theatre scene in Germany was more vibrant than in Boston or NYC and spent a year there to tweak her view.</p>
<p>Maybe you are on the wrong continent.
;)</p>
<p>It seems that nyugrad is just here trying to promote self, so not too interesting a thread. My daughter’s HS classmate, however, did attend film school at NYU and graduated early after a great internship opportunity and now works for a very successful producer on an upcoming followup to a VERY high profile series. Lucky (or clever?) him/her.</p>
<p>People like Marty Nemko jut want to deal with averages and that will always not include people with fantastic potential or opportunities. Of course not always can you live up to it or be lucky, but you can try film work rather than do accounting if it moves you. The times I have read his newspaper articles I have found that he gives incorrect advice on occasion. I once wrote him to that point and found he had no interest in the facts, stuck to his wrong advice, but he was gracious enough to reply.</p>
<p>I do think people should be cautious with debt and college expense and not be foolish about ‘dream schools’; I do think it is unfortunate that NYU can’t offer the kind of aid some peer schools can; I do know people who hated NYU.</p>
<p>Well, D1 is finishing her first year as an NYU film major, and I have to say so far so good. She loves it and is deeply committed to her major. In my mind, it’s perfect that her courses are split between liberal arts and the technical film classes. She gets a lot out of both, but is truly enthusiastic when doing projects for the latter. </p>
<p>D and I had actually seen OP’s point of view expressed on other film student forums before she made the choice to go to college as a film major. I can understand where he is coming from, and for some, he makes valid points, but I just don’t think any one person’s experience can be applied to others.</p>
<p>As with any major and college, one must weigh the affordability and expected debt and ask themselves does attending a really expensive option make sense. But I believe OP has made the point in other forums (I haven’t read the book) that an aspiring filmmaker could take the money for an education–$200,000–and it would be better invested in producing a great film. The obvious questions to me are…what if the film is a dud? What if the you end up investing all that money in one of the myriad of projects that go nowhere? How much of a waste would that be? </p>
<p>It is true that if you are incredibly creative and able to learn all the technical skills on your own, you have a shot at making it in the highly competitive film industry without a degree. But if you are able to afford it, film school can be a huge boost to hone your skills, learn a lot of new ones from all angles of film production, and help you get into the industry with internships and professional connections. Plus, you’ll have all the other intangible benefits of a four-year college education. </p>
<p>The vast majority of film students will not be making their own award-winning movies when they come right out of college, or ever, but they’ll have the necessary skills to get a starting job in that world, and as with any profession…the ultimate success from there is up to the individual. And at least with a college degree, if after a while you find that you want to change careers, you are in a much better position to do so than somebody without one.</p>
<p>Woops, sorry, I meant Tisch. I really wish CC would let us amend posts.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I feel I could have written the above, except replaced Musical Theater and Acting. You can become an actor without ever going to college. But the BFA training at Tisch can only help one hone their skills, as well as receive an education (that includes liberal arts). Not to mention, the network one develops at Tisch is significant. Attending a school like Tisch sets someone up to have a greater chance to pursue their artistic field, even if it is possible to do without any college education. Further, a college education can serve someone well in life in the long haul (not to mention the awesome four year experience itself).</p>
<p>"Brooklynborndad: I think you never went thru the fine print. 10% rule only apply up to $180K and that is also not same for all.
Still I think discussion is about NYU and lets stick to that. Point I was trying to make that most colleges don’t list their graduate placement information. "</p>
<p>I think you never read my post. I said ‘say, 150k’ </p>
<p>I really, really, do not have time to analyze NYU vs Harvard for a full range of family incomes from 50k to 300k. I think its pretty clear that under 180k Harvard is cheaper than NYU. And over 250k, I question seriously whether the description of the family as “middle class” is accurate. If you would like to show numbers demonstrating NYU is cheaper than Harvard for families between 180k and 250k, please do so.</p>
<p>And yes, its relevant, as some here are not focused on the specific problem of film majors at NYU, but are generalizing. Indeed, the OP himself seems to be mainly interested in generalizing. I myself believe that this is an individual decision, and to understand it you have to know the specific choices involved - not full fare private school vs unspecified alt, but full fare private school vs private school with merit aid, or full fare private school vs state school, or, what many folks face, private school with merit aid vs state school, or full fare private school vs private school with ROTC, or whatever. And specific to the career and educational interests of the child, their work ethic, their lifestyle goals, etc, as well as the financial situation of the parents, and their values wrt to education for its own sake.</p>
<p>My position has always been, go to school that offers the best Merit $$ (especially for pre-meds, engineers) and do your best (try to get college GPA close to 4.0) and you will be best positioned to Grad. School / future job and loan free.</p>
<p>hey brooklynborndad please show me the link where I can find the success rate for university of chicago graduates in getting admited to law school. also provide the url for the site that will tell me the success rate for uchicago graduates in getting into PhD programs in philosophy. Put up or shut up.</p>