<p>Recently, I have absolutely fallen in love with Pace University. However, the cost of attendance immediately squelched my growing excitement. Are there any outstanding Acting BFA programs that have either reasonable tuition or a reputation of being generous with financial aid and scholarships? </p>
<p>I really loved all of the exciting possibilites of studying at Pace (i.e. Inside the Actor's Studio, their multiple projects in NYC, etc.) Are those factors replicated in any more affordable universities?</p>
<p>Adelphi University on Long Island has an excellent auditioned, broad-based Acting BFA and their cost of attendance starts considerably lower than many other private schools - in the upper $30Ks as opposed to $50Ks. Plus there are many guaranteed merit scholarships. If you are a B+/A- student with good test scores you have a shot at going essentially tuition-free.</p>
<p>It is very close to NYC and many working professionals are involved in the department. Check out the curriculum online and see if it meets your interests.</p>
<p>Northern Illinois University is also very affordable- especially if you make good grades as the school provides scholarships up front. The school is about an hour from Chicago and in their junior year, BFA (which is auditioned) students study in Moscow. Kathryn Gately is the master acting teacher and she has trained many award winning actors. She and other faculty members came from Rutgers. The school also offers the full college experience- a campus, football team (they even have a women’s gymnastics team), Greek life, mid-western charm… Of course I’m biased because my daughter will be a freshman there but coming from out of state, it’s extremely affordable! The total cost- without any scholarships or any other funding- which includes tuition, room and board, fees, and everything else is about $34,000. My son is at NYU- the total cost there is about $67,000.</p>
<p>^ p.s.- of course, those are out of state prices. In state is about $10,000 less! Also, my daughter will be in a brand new dorm that has mini-suites. Each person gets their own room and shares one bathroom. She will live in a cluster of 12 kids. There’s a huge common area with a kitchenette, tables and chairs, couches, huge flat screen TV on wall, a utility room for laundry- all that is just in their cluster. The dorm also has it’s own fitness room, game room, and dining hall! It opens right before school! So when you combine all of these things with the price and excellent BFA training- it’s hard to pass that up!</p>
<p>Obviously, the best prices will be at your own state’s public colleges and universities. Unfortunately, many state universities have had to raise all tuitions radically, and out-of-state rates can approach those of private colleges. Many state schools are also extremely stingy with financial aid for out-of-state students. You should investigate each one individually. Our guide at Montclair State, here in NJ, said that they cannot compete financially with many private colleges when it comes to the packages they can offer students nationwide. The NYC colleges are the most expensive, followed by the Boston and California schools (in my limited experience). Smaller liberal arts colleges (e.g. Sarah Lawrence) also tend to be pricey There are lots of good schools with exciting opportunities out there. I would advise you to cast as wide a net as possible. A good academic record will certainly help you, but it is not a universal requirement: my son received a generous talent scholarship from UArts, despite a pretty dismal transcript (he had respectable test scores, with one outstanding Critical Reading SAT). If your grades are good, you might qualify for the Pforzheimer Honors program at Pace (unless BFA candidates are ineligible - worth checking on), which provides a very lavish aid package.</p>
<p>Texas State has a wonderful BFA Acting program, offering majors all kinds of opportunities. And it is very affordable. Accepted students are automatically given a talent award that qualifies them for the in-state tuition rate, regardless of which state they come from. Plus, if their test scores are good, they will receive the available academic scholarships as well (not a real lot of $$$ as it is a state school, but every little bit helps). My son’s total cost of attendance this past year, including room, board and expenses, was right around $16,000 (he is an out-of-state student). Very comparable to rates at our home-state colleges. Of course, San Marcos is not NYC! But it is a nice-sized college town with lots going on…</p>
<p>Coastal Carolina (South Carolina) has reasonable tuition/room & board, low $30s (half NYC cost for out of state) but also has excellent scholarship opportunities which can slash the tuition more, plus opportunities for sister states to get in-state tuition. Some states are better than others! If you’re need based and the school wants you, private schools interestingly often offer better deals than public, because they usually have the money and discretion to do so. So far for all of my three children, Rutgers (in state) was the most expensive option when taking outside schools’ need/merit scholarships into account, and they are very stingy with scholarships. Whereas Northwestern, Williams, NYU, among others – all schools with big price tickets - have all offered my children huge need/merits over the years. Oh–also, I’ve heard good things about CUNY’s Hunter? Has anyone else? Anyway, I’d also add to never disregard a school even though it’s expensive, because you don’t know what they’ll be able to offer you if you get in, although don’t fall in love with the school until you get that offer!</p>
<p>As hoveringmom noted, Coastal Carolina can be an affordable option, especially when you add in scholarship options. A couple of things to keep in mind if you are planning to audition for CCU and want to maximize your scholarship opportunities:
The highest level merit scholarship is the President’s Scholarship ($7,500 per year for OOS students and $4,000 per year for in-state students) and it is available only to students ADMITTED by January 1. So if you meet the academic requirements and you plan to audition for CCU, it’s worth it to go ahead and apply in the fall and get your academic acceptance in so you qualify for this level award. The other 2 merit levels require admittance by March 1. These awards are stats based and do not require any special application. And they are renewable every year as long as you maintain the GPA requirements.
<a href=“http://www.coastal.edu/financialaid/meritbased.html#CCU[/url]”>http://www.coastal.edu/financialaid/meritbased.html#CCU</a>
CCU also offers talent awards based on your audition. You are automatically considered for these when you audition. My D doesn’t receive one of these, since for her the academic award was higher, but since it is also a merit-based award I believe it can also be combined with the application-based awards.</p>
<p>It’s so hard to keep track of everything for auditions, much less for these type of scholarship and award requirements, so hope this is helpful.</p>
<p>Austinmtmom actually knows the CCU scholarship ins and outs at least as well as I do. I can say that the merit scholarship dates are fudged for theatre and theatre alone. We don’t have unlimited time, but we have been moderately successful later than January 1.</p>
<p>@ cat’s pajamas - I had no idea that Marymount was so reasonable; that’s almost $20k less than Fordham Lincoln-Center, Pace, NYU, or Eugene Lang in Manhattan.
@ hoveringmom - Unless things have changed recently, Hunter is a commuter school. It’s tuition for non-residents is reasonable, but students have to find lodgings in NYC. There might be limited accommodations available (worth researching), but I doubt they guarantee housing. I looked into Brooklyn College (also part of CUNY): they did not have housing traditionally, but have built a new residence hall. It does not come close to providing for their entire student body, though, and I understand that it fills up very quickly.</p>
<p>The tuition cost listed at MMC covers 13 - 15 credits per semester. A student taking more than 15 credits will pay $816 per additional credit.</p>
<p>Some schools may cover more credits per semester without charging the overage… for example, where I teach the tuition covers up to 21 credits per semester.</p>
<p>I do not know about MMC, but MT students at many schools take more than 15 credits per semester… I know I took 19 - 21 each semester when I was in an undergraduate MT program, and most of my students take at least 17 - 19 credits per semester.</p>
<p>Still reasonable… particularly for Manhattan!!! </p>
<p>Important to look at all of the details at each school when you are estimating… how many credits your tuition covers… mandatory direct billed fees, etc.</p>
<p>It seems like MMC accepts a pretty high number of Acting students. Do you know anything about performance opportunities? Wondering if students get enough support and individualized attention? Internships? I am Acting BFA, by the way.</p>
<p>Temple University in Philly is very reasonably priced as it is a semi-public university. They also offer merit aid which can bring the cost for out of state students down to instate prices. And they have an excellent theater program. It is a BA program but is very much performance based. The MT program requires an audition but the BA program does not until later in the program. [ACADEMICS</a> : THEATER : SCT : TEMPLE UNIVERSITY](<a href=“http://www.temple.edu/sct/theater/academics/baprogram.html]ACADEMICS”>http://www.temple.edu/sct/theater/academics/baprogram.html) </p>
<p>It’s a good one to have on your list as a financial and artistic safety.</p>
<p>Regarding individual attention at marymount manhattan, a friend of mine is going for musical theater next year, and she told me they only accept about 40 kids each year for MT.</p>
<p>to add to previous info on Northern Illinois–the requirements to establish residency are relatively easy so you can get instate tuition after freshman year.</p>
<p>Also, Academics play heavily into scholarship $$. Depending on your stats, some schools may offer you up to a full ride…</p>
<p>Unless something has changed, some of the least expensive well known schools are Purchase, UM Guthrie, UNCSA and Rutgers. Of course, just about any state supported in-state option or school in a state in which your home state shares a tuition exchange program is usually going to be your best best minus a monster scholarship.</p>