NYU Abu Dhabi and financial aid for Ghanaian students
NYU Abu Dhabi gives need-based financial aid to admitted students of any nationality, including Ghanaians, based on the CSS Profile, and considers every admitted student for limited merit support. Its own pages describe aid as based on demonstrated need. Before you count on it covering everything, ask the aid office whether it meets the full need of international students for your year, and file the CSS Profile before its deadline.
Does NYU Abu Dhabi fund Ghanaian students?
Yes. NYU Abu Dhabi gives need-based financial aid to admitted students of any nationality, Ghanaians included, based on the CSS Profile. It also considers every admitted student for limited merit support. That makes it one of the few universities outside the US where an international undergraduate can receive substantial aid.
What its pages describe is aid based on demonstrated need. Whether that covers the full need of every international student it admits is a question to put to the aid office directly, for your year of entry.
What is NYU Abu Dhabi?
A campus of New York University in the United Arab Emirates, offering an undergraduate liberal arts education. Students take a broad curriculum, choose a major, and can spend time studying at NYU's other sites around the world. Classes are taught in English.
It is highly selective and draws students from many countries. For a Ghanaian student, it offers an American-style education in a city far closer to home than New York.
How does its financial aid work?
Through the CSS Profile, as at many US universities. NYU Abu Dhabi asks applicants who want aid to file the CSS Profile by its financial aid deadline, which comes before admission decisions. Students who file on time and show need learn about their aid when they are admitted.
Aid for non-Emirati students is based on financial need. Every admitted student is also considered for limited merit support. Emirati students have a separate government scholarship, which does not apply to Ghanaians.
What should I ask the aid office?
Three questions, by email, before you rely on NYU Abu Dhabi:
- Does it meet the full demonstrated need of international students it admits, for your year of entry?
- What does the package usually include: grants, work, loans, travel?
- How is aid renewed each year?
A clear written answer lets you place NYU Abu Dhabi correctly on your list: beside the US universities that meet full need, or among those that give substantial but partial aid.
Who does NYU Abu Dhabi suit?
A student who wants a broad liberal arts education in a small, very international community, and who is comfortable far from home. Students there come from many countries, so no single culture dominates, and many students find that a strength.
It suits a student who is curious across subjects, likes discussion, and wants to study away during the degree. It may suit less well a student who wants a large campus with big-time sport, or a very specialised programme from the first year. Read its list of majors before you apply.
What should I check about the cost?
Ask what the cost of attendance includes, and what your family would pay after aid. Check four things in particular:
- Housing and food, which most students take on campus.
- Study away, and whether travel for semesters at other NYU sites is covered.
- Flights home, and how often.
- Health insurance and the visa, and who pays for each.
Ask for the answers in writing, and set them beside your other offers.
How does it read a Ghanaian application?
Like a selective US university: your whole record, your essays, your activities and your recommendations, in the context of your school. Report your WASSCE and SHS grades as recorded, and let your school's profile explain them. Our guide to explaining Ghanaian grades shows how.
Check NYU Abu Dhabi's testing policy for your year of entry, as policies change. If it requires or recommends a test, plan your SAT dates with your other universities.
How do I apply?
Through NYU's application process, with NYU Abu Dhabi selected as your campus, and the CSS Profile for aid. Check NYU Abu Dhabi's admissions pages for the current application route, deadlines and any additional steps for shortlisted applicants.
Because the aid deadline comes before decisions, plan your CSS Profile for NYU Abu Dhabi alongside your US universities. Our guide to the CSS Profile from Ghana explains how to file it.
How does it compare with US universities?
On aid, it sits among the universities that give need-based aid to international students, and the aid office can tell you how close it comes to full need. On education, it offers a US-style liberal arts degree. On location, it is in the Gulf, with different costs, climate and visa rules from the US.
Compare its offer with your other offers by what your family pays each year, for four years. Our guide to comparing aid offers shows how.
What about the visa and life in Abu Dhabi?
The university helps admitted students with the UAE student visa. Ask what it arranges and what you must provide. Life in Abu Dhabi differs from Accra and from an American college town: the climate is hot for much of the year, and the campus community is very international.
Read about student life on NYU Abu Dhabi's own pages, and ask to speak with a current student from Africa if you can.
What other funded options are near home?
NYU Abu Dhabi is one of a few strongly funded options outside the US. Others include Mastercard Foundation partner universities, many of them in Africa, and Ashesi University in Ghana, which offers financial aid. Our guide to funded places outside the USA lists them side by side, so you can choose the one or two that fit you best.
What should I do first?
Read NYU Abu Dhabi's financial aid pages, note the CSS Profile deadline, and email the aid office the three questions above. Then decide where it sits on your list.
If you would like help weighing NYU Abu Dhabi against your US options, you can book a call with us.
Questions people ask
Does NYU Abu Dhabi give financial aid to international students?
Yes. NYU Abu Dhabi accepts aid applications from students of every nationality. Grants for non-Emirati students are based on financial need, calculated from the CSS Profile, and every admitted student is considered for limited merit support.
Does NYU Abu Dhabi meet full need?
Its pages describe aid as based on demonstrated need. Ask the aid office directly whether it meets the full demonstrated need of international students for your year of entry, and get the answer in writing.
When is the NYU Abu Dhabi aid deadline?
Before admission decisions. NYU Abu Dhabi asks applicants to file the CSS Profile by its financial aid deadline, so that eligible students learn about their aid when they are admitted.
Is NYU Abu Dhabi a US degree?
It is a degree from New York University, earned at its campus in Abu Dhabi, with a liberal arts curriculum and study away at NYU's other sites. Check the degree details on its own pages.