What am I saying? It’s absurd nonsense. Hopefully they work this out before any American students make it over. I can hardly differentiate Spring and Prince Street—how in the world am I supposed to figure this out?!

In my previous post about NYUAD’s financials, I wrote that the cutoff for a full scholarship (including airfare both ways, room and board, books, and tuition) was a net income of about $80,000. So any student whose family made less than that would attend NYUAD for free. This number was based on Prof. Zvi Kedem’s estimate.

However, it appears that the estimate is way off base – NYU’s target is much higher.

A source familiar with the planning of the new campus said that students whose families earn $160,000 or more may be eligible for full scholarships, double what Kedem estimated. The end goal will be to ensure that every student who is offered admission (need-blind) will be able to afford to attend NYUAD without loans or financial strain.

The person I spoke with noted that the small size of NYUAD’s entering class (~100 students) will make tailored financial aid packages for each individual possible. So, for example, students whose families make $200,000 annually but have three other children in college might be eligible for a full scholarship, whereas a student from a family making $175,000 a year, but with no other major expenses, might not.

Regardless of the specific circumstances, this amount of aid is unheard of from American (based) universities. Skepticism about NYUAD’s ability to bring in the best and brightest has to diminish when the school will be able to offer such generous amounts of money. The question is: will it be enough?

Next: faculty, research, and tenure.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user michael gallacher.

For previous coverage of NYUAD, go here.

NYU Abu Dhabi is being built for a number of reasons: the enhancement of NYU’s prestige, John Sexton’s vision of a global university, expanded research opportunities, and more. But the one reason making all the others possible? Money.

In many ways, NYUAD is a blank slate, allowing Sexton and NYU to create whatever they can imagine. The campus is being built on an undeveloped island, entirely new classes are being created, and (in theory) the students are being almost hand-picked. And behind the scenes, the operation is being run by an endlessly flowing spigot of funding from the Abu Dhabi government.

Let’s first clear up one misconception: NYU is not paying for any of this. Your tuition dollars are not being funneled to the Middle East. The Abu Dhabi government pays for everything associated with NYUAD: flights, construction, staff and faculty salaries, financial aid – everything. NYU just has to justify why it needs the money and it gets it.

So, for example, NYU is currently recruiting faculty in different departments to serve as standing faculty in Abu Dhabi. This search is being conducted by NYU professors. Zvi Kedem is one of those professors. In order to have the time to serve on the search committee, he is teaching a reduced course load. He told me his “time was bought off” by NYUAD – basically, the government pays the Computer Science department for his committee work. This same procedure takes place in every department designing curriculum or selecting faculty.

Is there anything NYUAD won’t pay for? Actually, yes. Alcohol. Under Sharia law (which guides the legal system in the UAE), the drinking of alcohol is illegal. So the customary practice of purchasing wine or cocktails with dinner during faculty recruitment visits will not be reimbursed by the Abu Dhabi government.

But everything else is fair game – especially financial aid. Hilary Ballon, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of NYUAD, answered my questions over the weekend. She wrote, “NYU Abu Dhabi will have a very generous financial aid package, and awards will meet each student’s need. Scholarships may include non-tuition items such as travel, books, and costs associated with class trips in the region, but these details are not yet finalized.”

Kedem went further, explaining that NYUAD’s financial aid will look a lot like Harvard’s, meeting the full need for every student. That means full scholarships, including flights to and from Abu Dhabi, books, room and board, and tuition, for students that qualify. The question is where that cutoff will be. Kedem estimates that any student whose family makes below $80,000 will receive full aid. (Harvard gives full aid to those making below $60,000).

If Kedem is right, this would be a huge incentive for students to attend NYUAD. As he pointed out, that yearly salary is much greater in less developed countries than in the US, which will help to draw in top international students.

Students who study abroad from New York will also receive significant financial aid packages. Ballon said, “The details of financial aid for study-away students have not yet been finalized,” but Graduate Student Senator Steven Jean explained that the aid will be just like that given to NYUAD students. He wrote, “They need to qualify. But basically if your parents make under a certain amount then tuition is free.” Of course, there will still be large aid packages given to students who have more than that “certain amount.”

Since the plan is to offer the first NYUAD study abroad opportunity in the spring of 2010, before the first class begins classes in fall 2010, more information should be released about financial aid in the coming months.

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Ultimately, Kedem estimates that the Abu Dhabi government will be paying around $250 million a year to fund NYUAD. That’s over $104,000 per student, once the university is operating at its initial target of 2,000 undergraduate and 400 graduate students. And this figure doesn’t include the $50 million a year being pumped into a new research institute for NYU faculty.

One other financial storyline: Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, an exceedingly rich Emerati businessman and “one of the royal family’s most trusted advisors,” sits on the NYU board of trustees.

Next: faculty, tenure, and research.

Photo courtesy of  Steven Jean.

For previous coverage of NYUAD, go here.

Imagine starting a brand new university. Even if you have good name recognition and a solid reputation like NYU, it’s not exactly easy to attract a large crop of students to an untested, unknown campus. And add to that the condition that this new university is in the Middle East in a country most people have never visited (or even know anything about). If I were an admissions director, I would be daunted.

But there is one way to attract talent – and Abu Dhabi is already well-versed in it. Just buy it up.

The recruitment process for NYUAD is pretty incredible; if the university is successful, it could pave the way for a very bright future for the new campus. Here’s what they’re going to do: contact approximately 500 of the top high schools in the world (with an early emphasis on the US, UK, and Canada) and ask each of those schools to submit the names of 2 or 3 1 or 2 of their very best graduating students. (It should be noted that NYUAD, according to NYU Professor Zvi Kedem, is not a school to train Emeratis, but rather outstanding students from the international community. The focus will eventually be on students from Morocco to India.) Those students will then be asked to submit an application. That will give NYU a pool of 1000-1500 500-1000 students to select from.

The admissions committee will narrow the pool down to approximately 200 students. Those select few will be invited to attend, as Student Senator Steven Jean told me, Camp Abu Dhabi.

They will be flown for free to Abu Dhabi (in business class, I hear. They will fly in economy class, but almost everyone else who flies to and from NYUAD flies business class. A round-trip business class ticket to the US costs between $6,000-7,000.). There, the prospective students will take part in what amounts to an extended interview over the course of a few days. Further details about Camp Abu Dhabi are murky at best.

After this round of vetting, NYUAD will offer admission to 100 students (with a waitlist, I imagine). If all goes right, these students will be some of the best in the world.

Kedem brought up two concerns he had about the plan. One, parents might be able bribe headmasters into nominating their children for NYUAD. He didn’t have an answer for how NYU could stop that.

And, two, the students offered admission might not want to attend NYUAD, particularly since, given their credentials, they will likely have offers from many top universities. But Kedem did have an answer for this problem.

Next: financial aid.

UPDATE 4/24: Recruiters will be traveling to many of the high schools contacted in the student search to boost awareness of and a desire to attend NYUAD.

CLARIFICATION 4/24: The Student Senators did not fly business class to Abu Dhabi; they traveled in economy. Also, Steven Jean believes that students will be flown economy class as well. Professor Kedem thinks (as I do) that the students flown to Camp Abu Dhabi will be flown business class. Kedem also noted that professors will most likely travel business class.

UPDATE/CORRECTION 4/25: Josh Taylor, NYUAD’s US Senior Director for International Communications (AKA PR Director), sent me an email with some updates to this story:

Students will not be flying business class to Camp Abu Dhabi — not sure where you got that from, because I don’t think anyone has ever even suggested that. Furthermore, we expect that they’re likely to share hotel rooms when they’re over in Abu Dhabi.

Minor, but schools are able to nominate one to two students, not two to three.

And the Morocco to India focus is not correct — we will continue to recruit the top students from around the globe.

The piece has been changed to reflect this. However, Kedem specifically emphasized that the campus would have a focus on students from Morocco to India. Of course, students will come from around the world (including many from the US).

Photo courtesy of Steven Jean.

The following reports are based on my interview with Kedem, my interview with Graduate Student Senator Steven Jean who recently traveled to Abu Dhabi, and tips from students and faculty. My requests for interviews with top Abu Dhabi administrators have gone largely unanswered, aside from Hilary Ballon, associate vice chancellor for NYUAD, who agreed to answer emailed questions. I sent those questions Wednesday and have yet to hear from her.

Some background about the UAE, Abu Dhabi, and our campus there after the jump.

Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, a filthy rich country whose wealth is based mostly in oil. AD has a population of about 900,000, the large majority of whom are non-natives. Kedem estimates the native population to be less than 20 percent. This makes for a very rich populace – the GDP per capita in the UAE is the third highest in the world (behind Luxembourg and Norway).

So Abu Dhabi has begun to use its vast wealth to start accumulating culture. Saadiyat Island, where NYUAD will ultimately find its home, will be the hub of this culture. A branch of the Louvre will open there. A Frank-Gehry designed Guggenheim will open there. And, of course, a big American university will open there.

What makes NYU’s presence particularly notable, said Kedem, is that “the kind of universities they have there [in the Middle East]…are either some…offshoots of American universities or local universities.” But they don’t have any serious liberal arts colleges until now.

And NYUAD will be much more like a traditional liberal arts college than NYU. There’s a reason that Sexton hired Swarthmore President Alfred Bloom to be the President (excuse me, Vice Chancellor) of NYUAD – Bloom knows how to run a small liberal arts university. The classes will be small, the student-faculty ratio will be small, and the campus will be a close-knit community. The first class will only be 100 students, eventually they hope to grow to hold 2,000 undergraduate and 400 graduate students. Kedem expects them to try to grow the campus even more in the future, but “nobody is talking about more than 4,000″ students.

And don’t forget, NYUAD is not another study abroad site. It will grant NYU degrees without requiring students to ever study in New York (though they will be required to study abroad either in New York or at another of the NYU study abroad locations). NYU students will also be able to study abroad in Abu Dhabi. And though there will be coordination with NYU-NYC, NYUAD will have a separate admissions program.

Next: admissions.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Ioan Barbulescu.

As a part of our “Investigating NYU” series, NYU Local decided to find out more about NYUAD. Over the next few days, we will paint a much fuller picture of the campus than NYU has provided: academics, admissions, financials, faculty recruitment, campus life, and research will all be covered. We will also provide extended commentary on the new campus, engaging with Damon Beres’ great opinion piece and today’s release of the Sheikh torture video.