Thank you for the thorough answer.
Yes, I like the content-specific education at NYU, as well. I'm concerned about the generality of SUNY's program in addition to the lack of student teaching. However, SUNY's program actually requires 50 hours of fieldwork (10 hours per class) in the first year, which I find to be a lot. Then, in the last two years, you "mentor teach." The way I understand it is that SUNY's program is like a NYC Teaching Fellows/traditional Master's program hybrid.
I wasn't aware of Income Based Repayment, so I'll look into that. I'm also planning on teaching in the NYC public schools for a few years so that may qualify me for some loan forgiveness.
Speaking of the quality of NYU's program, I kind of have a sense of why there might be mixed reviews, as I went to NYU for undergrad. Given the nature of NYU's campus (or lack of it), the huge student body, and the nature of NYC itself, you have to be really proactive to get the most out of your education. I found the quality of the class depended more on the professor than anything else (I think that this is probably true of most places.) I spoke to a student at Steinhardt who said the classes were not as rigorous as she would have liked. This made me start wondering, do I really want to pay that much money for what seemed like an average education? (On the other hand, I spoke to a student who raved about the whole experience at NYU, classes and professors included.)
I haven't actually received anything yet. I called Financial Aid. Since we have to turn in acceptances next week, I started getting antsy. I heard that letters went out this week, so you should be receiving something soon.