financial aid package question - NYU/Columbia

[bombshellfilms]

does anyone know if the fin aid packet includes information on graduate assistantships & work-study? or would this have been included in the acceptance package?

also, i am assuming we will be receiving the fin aid packs in the next couple of weeks. has anyone received theirs? i saw a thread on columbia cost breakdown but has anyone actually gotten anything from the fin aid department?

 

[TDK120]

I'm pretty sure NYU doesn't have graduate assistantships anymore. Work/study, I think you have to apply for. I believe there's a campus employment website.

 

[jackjesus]

I would like to know pretty much the same thing as bombshell. I was recently accepted to Columbia, but received no word about institutional aid. I interviewed on a friday, got accepted the following wednesday. to me, that seems awfully quick for institutional aid to be determined. I would like to know if anybody from columbia has heard anything more about this ie. when the financial aid packages will be sent OR if we would have received word with the acceptance package.

 

[sophiedog]

Hey Jack, as far as I've been told Canadians (or any international students) can't get institutional aid/financial aid, you have to go through your province (unless you have dual citizenship?). Grants will likely not be going to any first years this year..

 

[jackjesus]

hi sophiedog,
I am pretty sure international students are eligible for institutional aid, but not federal (US) aid. Institutional aid is simply funding from the university which is why international students were allowed to fill out the need access application. as far as any other US funding streams go, international students are not eligible, at least not in the first year (but I'm still looking into it).

 

[hat trick]

Hey all,

I spoke with a Columbia admissions officer in regards to the financial aid packet. She said that we should receive our federal funding information either this week or next and that it should arrive directly from the office of Student Financial Planning. From what I hear, Columbia doesn't offer much in terms of institutional aid. Alumni that I've spoken to said to expect, on average, a debt of $150k upon finishing the program. I was going to give a shout out to NYU later to see if our financial packets will arrive at the same time. I'll let you all what I find out.

Good luck.

 

[duders]

International Students can get financial aid from an institution, in the form of scholarships/bursaries etc. Internationals DEFINITELY CAN NOT get federal loans.

Unfortunately, due to the economy, many US banks are not offering private loans to international students unless they have a US co-signer. Several of my friends will be screwed in the coming years.

NYU does have graduate assistantships (full tuition + stipend), but those are for a few 3rd year students only. In fact, I would say that most students in 3rd year get a large amount of award money.

1st and 2nd years are able to work as TA's, but that's an hourly rate thing, no deal on tuition.

 

[bombshellfilms]

duders - that's very helpful, thanks.