Financial Aid 101: A Guide for Parents and Guardians

At NYU, meeting the financial aid application deadlines is crucial since scholarship eligibility is assessed at the time of admission.  Students who do not file on time will not be eligible for the majority of our institutional grants and scholarships, and scholarship eligibility is not reassessed in subsequent years since our scholarships are renewable. Don’t let your student miss out on the opportunity to be reviewed!

You can learn more about the required applications and deadlines on our website.  For new first year applicants only, if your student has a non-custodial parent, that parent will also need to file their own CSS Profile in order for their financial aid application to be considered complete.  You can get an estimate of how much financial aid your student might qualify for at NYU by using our Net Price Calculator. 

Types and availability of financial aid, as well as the required applications and deadlines will vary depending on what type of applicant they are.  

• New first year students are eligible to be reviewed for NYU scholarships as long as they apply by our deadlines. NYU meets the full demonstrated financial need of full-time, first year undergraduate students.  Federal and state aid is also available for eligible students.
• Transfer and second bachelor’s degree students are not eligible to be reviewed for NYU scholarships, except in the case of a few specific programs (CCTOP, GUIDE, CAS POISE, Stern Howard Meyers Scholarship Program, and Second Degree Nursing Program).  For all other transfer and second bachelor’s degree applicants, federal and state aid are options.

Whatever you do, don’t wait until the last minute to file!  All of the deadlines are 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time. 

The applications are now open, so there’s no better time to get started!

* NOTE: The 24-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is scheduled to open in December 2023, as Federal Student Aid is working to implement updates intended to simplify the application.  Early Decision 1 applicants still need to submit their CSS Profile by the November 15 deadline for scholarship eligibility and will need to submit the FAFSA at a later time.

Time management is a skill your student will need throughout college and beyond. Applying to college can be anxiety-provoking for some students, and helping them get organized will make your student (and you!) feel like you have things under control.  

Sit down and make a list of all the schools your student is applying to, and which financial aid applications are required for each. Not every school will have the same requirements and deadlines, so it’s important that you map out all of that information in one place.    

Once you have all the information organized in one place, schedule a time to apply together and stick with the schedule!

Before applying to any college, do your research on the cost of attendance. How much is tuition? How much will room and board cost if your student plans to live on campus?  What kind of transportation will your student use to get to campus at the beginning and end of the term?  Is your student covered by your health insurance, or will they need to get University health insurance?

Make sure you know what your plan will be if the financial aid your student is offered is different than you expected.  How will you cover your family contribution?   Loans are available if families would prefer that option to finance their education, however for first year students who file on time, our expectation is that students will not need to borrow as we are committed to meeting 100% of their demonstrated financial need.  

We recommend that parents and guardians have discussions about your family’s financial situation and your expectations in advance of the college admissions process (or as soon as possible if your application is already under way). That way, once your student receives their admission decisions and can compare the financial aid options, they can make the decision that will be best for them and their specific circumstances.