Unless your girlfriend missed a stipulated deadline, or the Vanderbilt offer expressly stated that it was only available "while supplies last" (which to me seems highly dubious), I doubt very much that the actions by NYU that you have just recounted are legal. It's a simple matter of contractual obligation: they extended an offer, and unless that offer lapses, is rejected by you, or some clause contained in the offer causes it to be voided (e.g. the aforementioned "while supplies last" scenario") they are bound to honour their offer and if they breach that obligation, especially given the value of the award, you might want to seriously consider legal action (or at least threat thereof if negotiations get you nowhere).

However, with respect, I think what happened here is that you missed a deadline (perhaps out of absent-mindedness due to the stress of the application process, perhaps waiting to hear from a place like Harvard). In such a case, there is very little you can do. I find it doubtful that NYU would allow a student to hand over their scholarship directly to another student; presumably they are well experienced in this area and must have a remedial allotment process or maybe their policy is simply just to roll the funds over into next year's endowment (btw, would anyone happen to know what their policy actually is on this issue???).

Best of luck to you; though while I find your situation very unfortunate I must also admit I find it a highly strange and suspect you might be holding back some facts.

i remember a person here in this board saying that NYU told all its scholarship recipients that its on a first-come, first-serve basis, so the risk is on the student if he/she tries to hold out waiting for HLS/SLS/YLS, since others will just verily grab the full ride offer.

Well, there you have it, then. It was in the offer after all. Still, I think that's a terribly cruel proviso to put in the offer. A deadline for acceptance that falls before the date you hear from other schools is stress-inducing enough, but to not be able to gaugh exactly how long you have to make a decision? Talk about a pressure cooker! I guess that's New York for you: they do not joke around. What's that famous saying? if you can make it there...

Seriously, I feel for your predicament, OP. That is truly a raw deal. In fact, I think it's downright unfair. I hope you catch some kind of break.

yeah thats a real bummer. im really sorry to hear that, dude. maybe some of those who reserved their Vanderbilt slots while waiting for results from the Top Three, will give you some room when they get accepted. hope things turn out fine for you.

Sorry to hear that too... That´s true, the Vanderbilt scholarships are awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. Although at this point it is hard to determine what can be possibly done to overcome this situation, if I were you, I would try to write to as many people as possible at NYU (and I mean Prof. Weiler, Dean Revesz, etc.) telling your story and asking for help.

Your girlfriend is not alone, CLG. While waiting for Harvard's decision, I also lost my Dean's Graduate Award at NYU, as they told me all their scholarship awards have already been claimed. It was really frustrating and now I'm reconsidering my decision to go to NYU.
I hope you two can figure out a solution.

Same situation as you, just lost my Dean's Graduate Award, which is less than Vanderbilt, but still 10k$. The level of frustration is hard to describe.

that's strange, they haven't sent me any email saying that I have lost my vanderbilt scholarship... do I need to email them accepting it for them to reply that I'm too late?

it's weird

I also got the Vanderbilt but I'm going to Harvard so it became a non-issue. If you read the offer letter closely, it says they have offered the scholarship to more than 20 students (20 being the rough number of Vanderbilts they have each year), and it's awarded on a first come, first serve basis. You won't get an email telling them your award has been "lost" because you never claimed it in the first place. If you do email them now to claim it, that's when you'll prob find out that they've given them all out already.

you are probably right. But same for me, I've been admitted to HLS, so I'm not taking the vanderbilt scholarship

Could NYU do what it did after signing this:
http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/CGSResolutionJune2005.pdf ---?

Quote:
"Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; earlier deadlines for acceptance of
such offers violate the intent of this Resolution."

I think if you challenged them on this, they would say that they complied fully with the wording of the resolution because they never set a deadline as such - they simply said it's first come, first served. It's a bad situation to be in, but I don't think they violated the resolution.

Why has he erased his post?

I believe they have violated it anyway. Although there was no de juris deadline, you had to respond before April 15 to get the fellowship that had been offered to you. BTW, it's still March 22 and there aren't any more fellowships. I would like to know what happened to other candidates if they challenged NYU on this base.

Thank you for all your kind replies! Wish all the admitted best of luck!