# NYU, USC, UCLA, and Stony Brook - how do you ask for more funding/scholarship?



## WileyBurp

Hi everyone,

I’m wondering how those of you have negotiated higher scholarships went about it? Did you just write an email to admissions or the financial aid office, or did you go through a formal appeal process? If you did write an email, what information did you include? 

I feel very uncomfortable asking for more money when I was already offered a generous about, or asking for money when I wasn’t offered any. I was accepted to USC, UCLA, NYU, and Stony Brook. The last two offered scholarships, but UCLA and USC did not. I contacted NYU and asked if there was any potential for increase, when they emailed me back and gave me information about loans, campus jobs and their appeals process, after which they said that even if they do offer more it will be a very small amount. 

Any information would be super helpful! 

Also, if anyone has any information about UCLA’s scholarships or TA positions, that would be really appreciated. I know that they offer tuition remission for TAs, but I don’t know how competitive those positions are.


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## filminthemaking

WileyBurp said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I’m wondering how those of you have negotiated higher scholarships went about it? Did you just write an email to admissions or the financial aid office, or did you go through a formal appeal process? If you did write an email, what information did you include?
> 
> I feel very uncomfortable asking for more money when I was already offered a generous about, or asking for money when I wasn’t offered any. I was accepted to USC, UCLA, NYU, and Stony Brook. The last two offered scholarships, but UCLA and USC did not. I contacted NYU and asked if there was any potential for increase, when they emailed me back and gave me information about loans, campus jobs and their appeals process, after which they said that even if they do offer more it will be a very small amount.
> 
> Any information would be super helpful!
> 
> Also, if anyone has any information about UCLA’s scholarships or TA positions, that would be really appreciated. I know that they offer tuition remission for TAs, but I don’t know how competitive those positions are.



Hi! im in the same position with the same schools! hahah


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## WileyBurp

filminthemaking said:


> Hi! im in the same position with the same schools! hahah


Hey! Glad I’m not alone! I’ve seen plenty of people successfully get increases on thus forum, but I’m not sure how to go about it, or if I went about it wrong with NYU.

I asked UCLA about what scholarships the school offered and also inquired about the TA positions and just got a generic email saying that I should attend the open house on 4/8 to get my questions answered, but I didn’t get an email about an open house and it’s not listed on their website as far as I could find. 

I’m stressing since we have to decide in about a week and I feel like I don’t have all the information to make an informed decision. 

I hope you’re able to get the information and scholarship/aid increases you need!


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## filminthemaking

WileyBurp said:


> Hey! Glad I’m not alone! I’ve seen plenty of people successfully get increases on thus forum, but I’m not sure how to go about it, or if I went about it wrong with NYU.
> 
> I asked UCLA about what scholarships the school offered and also inquired about the TA positions and just got a generic email saying that I should attend the open house on 4/8 to get my questions answered, but I didn’t get an email about an open house and it’s not listed on their website as far as I could find.
> 
> I’m stressing since we have to decide in about a week and I feel like I don’t have all the information to make an informed decision.
> 
> I hope you’re able to get the information and scholarship/aid increases you need!



I totally feel you, we have a week to make this big decision but we dont even have all the info we need... I actually got in NYU and USC and got waitlisted on UCLA. My top option is NYU, and although they gave me some aid it's still way out of my budget. I sent an appeal letter and shoot my shot, we'll see what happens.

For USC, they told me I didnt get any aid and when I asked if i could appeal it they told me they didnt have an appeal process but that I could add extra information to my application in case some funds become available. Not sure how to go about it though.

USC tuition is half than NYU's almost >.<

Hb you?


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## scaldwellkerson

filminthemaking said:


> I totally feel you, we have a week to make this big decision but we dont even have all the info we need... I actually got in NYU and USC and got waitlisted on UCLA. My top option is NYU, and although they gave me some aid it's still way out of my budget. I sent an appeal letter and shoot my shot, we'll see what happens.
> 
> For USC, they told me I didnt get any aid and when I asked if i could appeal it they told me they didnt have an appeal process but that I could add extra information to my application in case some funds become available. Not sure how to go about it though.
> 
> USC tuition is half than NYU's almost >.<
> 
> Hb you?


I sent a message to student services email at USC and they said they may have department specific scholarships available ranging from $1-5K but they didn’t give me much more info on how I could find out about those, so I definitely emailed them back about it. At the newly admitted students day they mentioned the chance of people who may not accept admission getting their scholarships put back into the pool and then redistributing them, so I also asked how that process works with the chances of us knowing if we could have access to those scholarships. I can keep you posted on what they say.


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## WileyBurp

filminthemaking said:


> I totally feel you, we have a week to make this big decision but we dont even have all the info we need... I actually got in NYU and USC and got waitlisted on UCLA. My top option is NYU, and although they gave me some aid it's still way out of my budget. I sent an appeal letter and shoot my shot, we'll see what happens.
> 
> For USC, they told me I didnt get any aid and when I asked if i could appeal it they told me they didnt have an appeal process but that I could add extra information to my application in case some funds become available. Not sure how to go about it though.
> 
> USC tuition is half than NYU's almost >.<
> 
> Hb you?


I think it's great that you wrote an appeal letter. I've been thinking about doing the same, but have been such a weenie about it. It just feels weird and I'm not sure how to structure it and layout my budget which still would include over 100k in loans to make the program doable. I should just do it and shoot my shot, like you! It also feels bad because they already offered me 25k a year, but it's still so incredibly expensive. 

I don't know if it was related to my email or not, but a couple of days after emailing UCLA about aid and scholarships, I did receive an offer for a small scholarship in my first year of $2500. 

Stony Brook offered me a TA/GAship which comes with 25% tuition remission as well as a $5600 a year stipend, which they said was the highest amount to be awarded that year, so I don't think I'm going to push it.

With USC, I do remember that there were scholarships within the application portal that you could apply for, but I think you had to write an essay for each of them -- does that sound familiar? I haven't reached out to them.


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## WileyBurp

scaldwellkerson said:


> I sent a message to student services email at USC and they said they may have department specific scholarships available ranging from $1-5K but they didn’t give me much more info on how I could find out about those, so I definitely emailed them back about it. At the newly admitted students day they mentioned the chance of people who may not accept admission getting their scholarships put back into the pool and then redistributing them, so I also asked how that process works with the chances of us knowing if we could have access to those scholarships. I can keep you posted on what they say.


That is useful to know! Thanks for sharing that information!


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## scaldwellkerson

WileyBurp said:


> That is useful to know! Thanks for sharing that information!


Student services said any scholarships going back to the pool will be awarded in the summer, those are the SCA specific scholarships, they did say each department has their own scholarships too and you should reach out to find out about them, I've emailed but haven't heard back yet.


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## filminthemaking

WileyBurp said:


> I think it's great that you wrote an appeal letter. I've been thinking about doing the same, but have been such a weenie about it. It just feels weird and I'm not sure how to structure it and layout my budget which still would include over 100k in loans to make the program doable. I should just do it and shoot my shot, like you! It also feels bad because they already offered me 25k a year, but it's still so incredibly expensive.
> 
> I don't know if it was related to my email or not, but a couple of days after emailing UCLA about aid and scholarships, I did receive an offer for a small scholarship in my first year of $2500.
> 
> Stony Brook offered me a TA/GAship which comes with 25% tuition remission as well as a $5600 a year stipend, which they said was the highest amount to be awarded that year, so I don't think I'm going to push it.
> 
> With USC, I do remember that there were scholarships within the application portal that you could apply for, but I think you had to write an essay for each of them -- does that sound familiar? I haven't reached out to them.


Amazing! 25k is good, i got offered 20k at NYU.

Def shoot your shot! also, have you decided where youre going finally?


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## WileyBurp

filminthemaking said:


> Amazing! 25k is good, i got offered 20k at NYU.
> 
> Def shoot your shot! also, have you decided where youre going finally?


I still haven't decided, so tomorrow is going to be interesting! declined admission to USC, but I'm still stuck between UCLA, NYU, and Stony Brook. Stony Brook doubled their offer, which is awesome, but I am worried about how small the class is and it's such a new program. 

Have you decided where you're going?


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## Drummajor1911

WileyBurp said:


> I still haven't decided, so tomorrow is going to be interesting! declined admission to USC, but I'm still stuck between UCLA, NYU, and Stony Brook. Stony Brook doubled their offer, which is awesome, but I am worried about how small the class is and it's such a new program.
> 
> Have you decided where you're going?


Which school did you end up choosing?


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## WileyBurp

Drummajor1911 said:


> Which school did you end up choosing?


I ended up choosing UCLA. I cried a lot after making the decision. I know what a great opportunity NYU would've been, but I just wasn't comfortable with that amount of debt. UCLA is substantially more expensive than Stony Brook would've been, but I decided that it was important to me to go to a more established program. I was sad about declining admission to Stony Brook because it seems like such a great program with really cool, caring people involved and I am also sad about the missed opportunity of working with amazing faculty at NYU, but I am trying to remember to be excited about attending UCLA!

I saw on a different thread that you decided to attend UT Austin? That's amazing! I am so stoked for you. That was pretty much my top pick school (I did not get in lol)


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## Chris W

Congrats on your decision! UCLA should be a great program. Please keep in touch with the site and let us know how it goes.


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## WileyBurp

Chris W said:


> Congrats on your decision! UCLA should be a great program. Please keep in touch with the site and let us know how it goes.


Thanks! Will do!


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## rhodes

Hi guys. Was anyone successful in their appeals? NYU offered me 40k (I don't know how or why I got so lucky) but I'm hoping to get a little more, about 10k-20k added if possible. I didn't realize how generous it was considering the amounts others received, but if you guys had any success it wouldn't hurt to ask!


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## Chris W

rhodes said:


> Hi guys. Was anyone successful in their appeals? NYU offered me 40k (I don't know how or why I got so lucky) but I'm hoping to get a little more, about 10k-20k added if possible. I didn't realize how generous it was considering the amounts others received, but if you guys had any success it wouldn't hurt to ask!


Wow that's a great scholarship! Add your application to our database when you can. 






						Film School Application Database
					

A database of thousands of film school applications to calculate acceptance rates to film programs and the minimum GPAs, minimum SAT and GRE scores, experience of accepted applicants, and much more....



					www.filmschool.org
				




Good luck in your appeals!


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## dkalani17

WileyBurp said:


> I still haven't decided, so tomorrow is going to be interesting! declined admission to USC, but I'm still stuck between UCLA, NYU, and Stony Brook. Stony Brook doubled their offer, which is awesome, but I am worried about how small the class is and it's such a new program.
> 
> Have you decided where you're going?


Question: when did Stony Brook offer you the scholarship? Was it with the acceptance letter, or after?


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## WileyBurp

dkalani17 said:


> Question: when did Stony Brook offer you the scholarship? Was it with the acceptance letter, or after?


It was with my acceptance, but they increased the amount substantially after that.


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## dkalani17

WileyBurp said:


> It was with my acceptance, but they increased the amount substantially after that.


Grumble. I got accepted but there was no mention of any aid or scholarships in the letter.


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