<p>i’m sure you’re aware of tuition exchange here in minnesota…and i believe illinois residents qualify.
also to chime in…plenty of the bfa’s here at the u are in the honors program if she’s keen on the academics. and a good amount minor and major in the other areas if they’re really good at time management.</p>
<p>There is no BFA in Theatre at UW-Madison. The focus of the department is much stronger on grad students. Design, however, is very strong there.</p>
<p>UW-Lacrosse has a very strong undergraduate BA program, and we know several successful graduates (two of whom are in NYC getting work right now). UW-Stevens Point has a well-regarded auditioned BFA in MT.</p>
<p>A good quality, low cost program in the Wisconsin system is UW-Milwaukee. It is a BA-BFA program (audition in second year) and has terrific opportunities, including with the wonderful professional theatres in the city. A student with good grades, even without tuition reciprocity, would probably get a very good financial aid package.</p>
<p>PrezBucky – Madison doesn’t offer a BFA to my knowledge. Just checked website and just says BA. I won’t argue with you about it being a great school having gone there. But I think only UW-Milwaukee offers a BFA program among the UW schools.</p>
<p>EmmyBet, those Wisconsin schools were not on our radar! Thanks for sharing. UW - Stevens Point is, though. Do you know anything about that program?</p>
<p>Stevens Point has a fine reputation and it’s definitely worth looking into. One of my daughter’s friends went to The Broadway Theatre Project for the summer and they told her that Stevens Point and Ohio Northern were among the schools with good MT programs. I believe Laura Osnes went to Stevens Point.</p>
<p>skewlcounselor, I’m late coming to your thread but I would strongly support the recommendations you’ve already received upthread about University of Southern California, where my S2 is a soph double major in Theatre & School of Cinema. In order to double major, he’s getting the BA but the BFA program is also excellent. </p>
<p>We were in shoes similar to yours 2 years ago, looking for merit $$ and good academics + great theatre programs. What we found was that most colleges who offered significant merit money were often lower on the totem pole, either US New ranking, selectivity, or with less recognized theatre reputations. USC, which offers guaranteed 1/2 tuition scholarships to NMFs plus has hundreds of other 1/4, 1/2 and full tuition merit awards, is extremely rare for such a well regarded university. Other merit-giving schools my son applied to included Case Western (they have 5 theatre scholarships of $22K/year!), Tulane (merit is mostly academic based), U Miami (merit is mostly academic based), and George Washington (Presidential Scholar in the Arts 15K/year required supplement/audition/interview). </p>
<p>Your D must have an excellent GPA (congrats!) and if her test scores match, she may have good results at these and similar private U’s.</p>
<p>Great discussion. I think the OP mentioned they didn’t have much money but felt they were in the ‘no man’s zone’ of having too much money for most need based but not enough to write that check for $55,000/year :-)</p>
<p>Many top well endowed schools give a lot more aid than you’d think; many are committed to no loans or minimal loans. My own D is able to go to Northwestern for less than Rutgers and Suny for this reason. My D applied to a fair number of BA programs in select LACs and Ivies with strong theatre programs because their endowments and commitment to lower loans was really a deal breaker for us–if your kid is a strong academic student, this is one possible approach. You’d be surprised I think what some of the top schools can offer. </p>
<p>There is another thread of BFA programs that are good deals if you can get in, such as Texas State, Coastal Carolina and of course SUNY Purchase. I have to chime in about UW: we lived in Madison for a while and I can second how beautiful it is and it does have a great commitment to its arts programs (my friend’s son is a music/math dual major there and loves it); a few UW branches do have BFAs in theatre, although not Madison. Madison does offer both a BM and a BA in theatre. It’s not cheap for out of state though.</p>
<p>A bit earlier you mentioned Adelphi. I highly recommend the program - the BFA is just what my D wanted, and with the Honors College she is getting academics that compare to Bard, Sarah Lawrence, and other highly intellectual BA schools. With high stats you can get nearly a full tuition scholarship. It was a great low-cost option where she can have the best of both worlds and be near NYC.</p>
<p>Look at Rider and Pace – I have one son at each school. Generous merit aid for strong academics. Both schools have acting and MT.</p>