I spoke to dozens of current and former students, faculty and staff for this piece. @anfuller did a ton of thoughtful, thorough data analysis. And our jaws just kept dropping as we reported this out. 2/6

For instance: Comparing debt loads with early-career earnings, NYU ranked worst of any university in 15 graduate programs, including music, international relations and education. 3/6

Median debt was higher than median earnings two years out for 40 of the 49 NYU graduate programs for which @usedgov publishes data 4/6

Median Parent Plus debt for borrowers whose kids graduated from NYU in 2018 and 2019 was higher than at 99% of four-year colleges for which there's available data. 5/6

NYU has improved its aid offerings recently, and this fall says it's covering full need for all first-year undergrads. But that's little comfort for the families of many thousands of grad students, alums or upperclassmen. 6/6

@melissakorn @chrislhayes What a racket! No reason to go to school there. Plenty of good public universities with lower tuition.

@melissakorn @chrislhayes When I toured NYU with my daughter tour guide told us straight out “Don’t count on too much financial aid”. I am single mom and kid 4.2GPA. Choose in state Berkeley. Financial aid no debt

@melissakorn @chrislhayes It's a lifestyle school. It's where you stay to live in a nice area of NYC. There's no reason people who can't afford to live in Manhattan should have their tax dollars spent on kids who screwed around the East Village for four years.

@melissakorn @BlueFlameBurns care to reply @nyuniversity ?

@melissakorn @chrislhayes I got into NYU - ITP several years ago and elected not to go because I couldn't justify 160k for a two year program. My dream still is to get my PhD at NYU but even a fully funded program wouldn't making affording NYC any less difficult.

@melissakorn @chrislhayes I am a parent of a NYU graduate student who owes $160,000 in loans. There were only two schools that offered a Masters degree in line with his BA. The other school was Drexel in PA. Not every school offers degrees in the area of a student's concentration.

@melissakorn I was accepted there years ago, couldn't afford it. all my friends went there.. but many had scholarships. many are still paying loans 20 years later.

@melissakorn @chrislhayes It's a for profit business, why would anyone be surprised it doesn't give a damn about the economic troubles of its consumers?

@melissakorn As an NYU alum, this makes me sad to read. Even 20+ years ago many students (including me) were on severely need-based scholarships OR had wealthy parents (not me). Because NYU graduates so many art students (acting, film, etc) there should be more help available.

@melissakorn I spoke to dozens of current and former students, faculty and staff for this piece. @anfuller did a ton of thoughtful, thorough data analysis. And our jaws just kept dropping as we reported this out. 2/6

@melissakorn Don’t go to that school.

@melissakorn Who in their right mind takes on that much debt for college? Is this woman going to take any responsibility for her bad decision making?

@melissakorn In 2011 graduated from NYU with $130k in debt. They offered a work-study as part of my financial aid to cover the debt which paid a federal minimum wage of $7.25... That is less than I was making working at McDonalds in 2004...