Feb 14, 2025
The journey to higher education often starts with the flutter of an acceptance letter — a symbol of ambition and the promise of a future. But for many, that excitement is quickly tempered by a harsh reality: “Unfortunately, there are no funding options available for you through the university.”
For Sierra Bille, New York University wasn’t just a college — it was her dream school, etched in her mind since eighth grade. But instead of letting the cost crush her dreams, she decided to get strategic.
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Armed with a spreadsheet tracking more than 300 scholarships, she turned ambition into action. While her high school classmates spent their senior years celebrating, Bille had her own ritual. “I was at a coffee shop every single day after school applying for things,” she told the Wall Street Journal.
Attending a private nonprofit university like NYU costs nearly four times more than in-state tuition at a public college — a financial strain that weighs heavily on both students and parents chasing academic dreams.
And with that price tag comes an unavoidable question: will the cost of a dream school truly deliver a return in the long run? For Bille, only time will tell, but that question wasn't going to stop her from chasing her dream.
Making her dreams a reality
While some students might have given up on attending their dream school, that was never an option for Bille. She searched through databases, flipped through books and even turned to YouTube for tips on how to pay for college.
With the right research, Bille found that landing funding for school may not be as out of reach as she might have thought. In fact, colleges awarded $82.8 billion in grants and discounts to students during the 2023-24 school year, according to the College Board.
There is funding out there, but it can be hard to secure. Before her freshman year at NYU, Bille was awarded the Pell Grant — which gave her just over $6,000 — but she still had $60,000 in fees to cover. She went to NYU’s financial aid office and asked for help.
“If I’m not able to get more aid, I won’t be able to attend your university,” she told the school, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
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Just a week later, Bille logged into her student account and found an additional $34,000 in funding — enough to secure her spot at NYU, as well as time to search for more scholarships.
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Is the ROI really worth it?
When Bille was accepted to NYU in February, 2019, she was looking at a cost of $75,502 annually, including room and board. For comparison, the average annual cost of in-state tuition at a public four-year institution is $9,750, according to the Education Data Initiative.
A report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce titled “A First Try at ROI: Ranking 4,500 Colleges” reveals that private nonprofit college degrees offer a stronger long-term return on investment than those from public universities. Opportunity Insight, a Harvard University-based research group, supported this and found that leadership positions are largely dominated by graduates from a small number of private colleges.
But students at private colleges typically graduate with more debt. On average, students at private nonprofit universities take out $33,910 in loans to earn their bachelor’s degree. However, these students also see higher median earnings — about $8,000 more annually just a decade after enrollment. Over a 40-year span, that pay gap adds up, with private college grads netting an average economic gain of $838,000, compared to $765,000 for their public university peers.
Attending a private university can open doors to job opportunities thanks to a strong alumni network, prestigious reputation and exclusive recruitment pipelines — but it’s not the only gateway to success. Gaining work experience, seizing opportunities and building a strong professional network can help you work your way up, regardless of where you went to college.
In the end, Bille ended up combining scholarships with financial aid to receive more than $350,000 in funding. Her hard work and determination allowed her to attend her dream school, and an expensive one at that, without spending her own money or taking on student debt.
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Victoria Vesovski is a Toronto-based Staff Reporter at Moneywise, where she covers the intersection of personal finance, lifestyle and trending news. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, a postgraduate certificate in Publishing from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Master’s degree in American Journalism from New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Her work has been featured in publications including Apple News, Yahoo Finance, MSN Money, Her Campus Media and The Click.
