By: Miah Miller
Walking around the world of New York University, you can’t help but notice the number of amenities, the dormitories, high-end technology, and just the amount of space the school takes up in Greenwich Village. But all this doesn’t come cheap, costing students much as $70,000 a year.
NYU has been ranked in the top 60 colleges in the United States according to Niche.com. But is the pricey private university all it’s cracked up to be?
High school students from all across the globe came to NYU this summer to take classes and earn academic credit. But they mainly came here to test out the city and college life for six weeks as part of the Precollege program.
Being completely independent from their parents, these juniors and seniors in high school have gotten a taste of what it’s like to be a student at NYU. Several of them weighed in on the experience they’ve had over the summer.
Fifty-five percent of surveyed Precollege students said that they didn’t think the college was worth the hefty price tag that climbs up towards $74,000 a year. They said that NYU should give more options for financial aid and scholarships.
Lucy, 17, of North Carolina, said that she agreed with the private university being overpriced and said, “The scale of cost for continued education is ridiculous. Of course NYU provides an amazing education, but no education should cost what it does today.”
On the other hand, 45% of precollege students said that the cost of tuition and housing is understandable.
“New York City is an extremely expensive city to provide housing in,” said Emilia Biancini, 16, of Pittsburgh.
“New York City is such an expensive city to live in, I think all the extra costs for housing is worth it,” said Kayla Jakuboski, 16, of Colorado.
More than 80% of surveyed students said that their parents will cover their costs of attending but more than 70% said that they will none the less work during the academic year.
Over 90% of Precollege students said that NYU met the sky-high expectations they had coming in.
“There’s not only a ton of academic opportunities but also social opportunities that will further shape me into a better person and student,” Jakuboski said.
Meghan Riley, 16, of upstate New York, said, “It has provided me with great teachers who are established professionals in their field as well as opening many doors for me in my class subject.”
Having an urban campus appealed to Emma Gallahger, 16, of New Jersey.
“It actually exceeded my expectations. I thought I wouldn’t like a non-traditional college campus, but I ended up loving it. I wanted to have easy access to what the city has to offer and NYU gave me that,” she said.
Most of the students sang NYU’s praises, saying, “The classes are really great, the dorm is beautiful, and I just really love city life. I think the campus really helps with that.” and simply “I have had fun and learned a lot.”
Sonia DiOrio, 16 of Indiana said, “For me, the opportunities associated with the school and just being in a big city is worth it. Plus the campus is beautiful and NYU has a ridiculous amount of majors/minors to choose from.”