Is NYU or Brown worth taking on significant student debt?

Neither Brown nor NYU automatically justifies “significant” debt, especially debt beyond the federal undergraduate loan limit. Brown can be a defensible choice when its need-based aid leaves your family with a manageable, clearly defined amount to borrow, while NYU needs a more career-specific financial case because its total cost can be especially high. Do not treat a parent’s PLUS loan or a private loan as harmless simply because it is not in the student’s name; it still affects your household’s finances for years.

Brown makes the most financial sense for a student who wants a broad liberal-arts education, will use its open curriculum seriously, and has an aid offer that keeps total borrowing modest. Its institutional resources, alumni network, and academic flexibility can create real opportunity, but they do not guarantee an income high enough to comfortably repay six figures.

NYU can make sense for a student entering a field where being in New York and using internships during the academic year is central to the plan, such as certain areas of arts, media, business, finance, or public policy. That value depends on actively building experience and connections, not just having NYU on a résumé. For a student who is unsure of a major or expects to pursue lower-paying work or graduate school, large NYU loans can sharply limit post-college choices.

Use the four-year net price, not the stated aid award, to make the decision. Add tuition, housing, health insurance, travel, and every loan’s interest rate. As a practical guardrail, federal student borrowing up to roughly the standard dependent-student limit is very different from asking a family to borrow tens of thousands more through Parent PLUS or private loans. If either offer requires debt that would produce payments your family cannot realistically absorb on an ordinary starting salary, the school’s prestige or location is not enough to make that risk worthwhile.