This has been a wildly mischaracterized story.

NYU's admissions are need-blind, meaning we do not consider a candidate’s financial resources in making an offer; however, NYU is not among that relatively small number of U.S. colleges and universities that are able to meet full need (meaning the gap between what the federal formulas say should be the family contribution and what is available in the form of financial aid). It is from these two simple truths that our effort evolved.

If NYU were not need-blind, there would have been no reason for us to make calls to students whose need was not fully met by financial aid: we would simply compose a class where we could be more sure of everyone's finances. Nor would there have been a reason to make the calls if NYU could meet full need (important note here: NYU’s endowment, on a per student basis, is about 1/30 of a Harvard, Yale, or Princeton (and that’s not a typo)).

Here's what NYU's effort is all about: straightforward consumer information. Financial aid is complex, and all NYU is trying to do is make sure families know what they're getting into and are fully aware. We called families of first generation college students because financial aid is likely to be more complex-seeming for those families who have no prior experience with it. We called those with great need because they are most likely to face the greatest challenges in this economic environment. Our intention was simply to be more transparent; we would have thought that would be worthy of praise, not criticism.

Moreover, we know that economics is a key reason that students don't finish school. NYU has one of the highest percentages of Pell-eligible students among top research universities (that is, the neediest students; this is something the reporting has regrettably not noted…); we simply want the graduating class to be just as economically diverse as the entering class.

We wouldn't hesitate to talk candidly with students if we thought there were academic issues that might prevent them from graduating; why wouldn't we be as forthright about financial issues?

Lastly, it should be understood that this effort is not about income level, it is about need. A family with a relatively high income level may have circumstances that create great need. And in today's economy, they may be among the most vulnerable.

Bottom line: we have these conversations precisely because we want these students here from the start of their pursuit of their degree to the end, and we have handled these conversations thoughtfully and sensitively because we are respectful of families' decisions about their own finances.

-- John Beckman, NYU Public Affairs

I was accepted to NYU three years ago. I received an initial financial aid package of $15,000 a year in scholarship, which would have left me straddled with over $100,000 in debt at graduation. Naturally, my family and myself filed an appeal, and sat down with a counselor to talk about it. He said to us, in no uncertain terms, that appeals generally are fruitless because "if you cannot pay NYU tuition, we have plenty of people on the waitlist who can."

I do think that some high school seniors do not have a full appreciation of what student debt is like. However, most of these students take out private loans to cover the costs, the debt from which is not paid to NYU but the lending companies who provide them. Therefore, it shouldn't be NYU's mission to council these students, but that of the lending companies. These phonecalls, as well as my own experience (needless to say, I didn't enroll), just show how tactless the financial aid department is at NYU.

How about other expensive Universities? Is NYU alone in overcharging for mediocrity?

Penn, for starters, and everyone I know who went to Brown can't fathom why they did it. At the end of the day, higher education blows. Just ask Bill Gates.

I'm a foreigner and considering Columbia. Everyone i talk to tells me no one gets into a school like that and then decided not to go, but then they say that 'it IS a whole lot of money'. I'm totally confused. What school did you guys go to, if you don't mind me asking.

It is not clear what you are saying. Columbia has a large endowment but people who get accepted to Columbia some times don't go just like every other school in the country! I don't think Columbia is better than Harvard or Yale for example and I suspect less than 50% of those accepted to Harvard or Yale actually go there.

well, of course i didn't mean literally when i said 'everyone'. I just meant that a school like Columbia (or Yale or Harvard or Penn etc) is a hard school to get into and that most people that do get accepted find a way of paying for it. Somehow i doubt the 20 % of students that decided to turn down Harvard went with an obscure college. I'm sure they had their pick of Ivy League schools and just chose the one that suited them better. well, this is, of course, just my assumption and i guess my question was... If you do get a chance to get a first grade education (which i'm assuming Columbia, Harvard etc. offer) is it worth the money?

My mistake. Actually according to cititowninfo.com, 80%+ of students accepted by Harvard go to Harvard.

I asked Bill Gates and he said he dropped out of Harvard. But then said to drop out of Harvard you have to first be accepted to Harvard.

NYU is a giant real estate business that just happens to give courses.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have went to SUNY and got a Masters for the amount you spend on one year at a private college. The seal on your degree is meaningless if you interview well.

http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2009/04/30/breaking-protesters-on-top-of-silver/

The Take Back NYU kids are getting the hang of this relevant-protest thing...

i no longer am convinced about NYU's "prestige." their student population (that i've met) is quite homogeneous. it seems to be a very expensive private school for the arts.

thank you captain obvious. i guess before, when you were still convinced of nyu's prestige, i would have called you captain ignorance.

i'm a dick.

Who wants to spend all that dough to send their kid to NYU when chances are they will just leap to their death from a building anyway?

Way back when when I was looking at colleges, NYU struck me as the school that was famous more for its location than for its own merits. I was also the first in my family to go to college and needed lots of financial aid. I went to a private school that actually cared about its students and had excellent financial aid and graduated all of $10k in debt.

It seems like NYU is suffering from the giant institute syndrome. It's just that when you pay $4k a year to go to the huge state school that doesn't care about you, that's a lot easier to stomach than when you're paying $50k a year for NYU.

Lingering college debt is patriotic.

recently-accepted students who were the first in their families to attend college were likelier to get the calls,

I think NYU is doing a public good. They are telling these kids "listen, you are the first person in your family to go to college. So you might not be aware of how crappy colleges can be. Here is a little advice: go to a public school or a better endowed private school because you might have a good chance of hating this place once you realize you took on $100K of debt for subpar quality of life and many mediocre classes."

I didn't go to NYU, but I always recall what a NYU graduate once told me about the school: "Worst value in New York City."

Last I checked NYU was a private institution, not a charity.