I'm a current second-year at NYU. I'm also financing my education with loans. I would say that you should probably expect a similar financial aid package for the next three years as what you received this year. NYU doesn't have a lot of grant aid money available, and it's reserved for the neediest cases. Even private NYU loans are in limited supply--I did not qualify for them, just for federal Stafford and Perkins loans. You can probably expect your financial aid package to remain similar for all four years, i.e., I wouldn't expect the financial aid package to improve (by this I assume you mean more grant money and less loans?) in the later years. I think there is some grant money available for minority students, so if you're a minority that may be a possibility, but I'm not sure. I am not aware of any cap that NYU has on its' graduates' debt levels, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't one. There may be one that I'm not aware of... I'd suggest calling the financial aid office and asking. I don't know what the average debt is for NYU graduates...I know that my own will be in the range of 180k not including accumulated interest, so probably about 200k overall. I doubt the "average" debt for an NYU graduate is that high, since some students are MD/PhD (and have their schooling paid for), some students are in the military, and some come from wealthy families who are helping them out or paying entirely for their schooling. So the average debt would be lower than that, but if you're financing your education entirely on loans then you can probably expect to graduate with in the neighborhood of 200k debt. It's not really as bad as it sounds--you will have an excellent earning potential one day, and you'll be able to pay it back. It's really unfortunate that there's not more grant money available at NYU, and I know the school wishes that were different, but they just don't have the money available. That said, NYU is a fantastic school and I have been very happy with the education I have received here so far. I would strongly encourage you all to attend, unless you have a significantly cheaper option available. Loans suck, but as doctors, we WILL be able to pay them back, and 200k or so in debt is fairly standard for students at private medical schools, so NYU isn't unusual in that regard. Some schools (Northwestern comes to mind) are even more expensive--$65k/year. I understand that the number seems very intimidating, but it really is a great education and, in my opinion, is worth it, especially since most other private schools cost comparable amounts. Public med schools are cheaper, of course, but it depends on where else you got in and what your personal priorities are. Good luck with your decisions!
