Ancillary Costs

My wife and I are obsessing over costs. We’ve made our peace with regard to the costs of auditioning and getting in, but can’t find information about additional costs once D gets in to a BFA program. Our son is in engineering and pays lab fees and outrageous costs for books (one text $900!! - insane!), but that’s it. With an understanding that not only will each school be different, but also that each individual within each school will be different, I’d like to ask a general question to those with experience: What ancillary costs accompany a MT BFA? Are there additional or different costs for women in these programs (makeup, dancewear, etc.)? Were there any costs that were a surprise, either by the amount of the cost or simply because the cost existed?

You will certainly have the added costs of dancewear (but let’s be real - it’s really the dance SHOES :-)). My S started with less expensive shoes freshman year (Capezios) but needed to replace all his dance shoes within the year. His tap instructor recommended a very high-end ($$) tap shoe when he started sophomore year. He is still wearing those and has not done a tap-heavy show this year. Maybe they will last more than 12 months. I assume $1,000-$1,200 (for S) per year for updating dance clothes and shoes.

My kids have also gone through a number of professional make up kits - I feel like we are constantly replenishing there - but boys also have this cost. If you choose a conservatory program within a university, there may be a tuition differential up front (+/- $2,000 seems standard). We also pay for an accompanist for voice lessons and recitals - so far a $250-$300 per semester but it may be more this year. You may end up paying for additional private voice lessons depending on the school. Sophomore and Junior year, S had costs to travel to unified auditions (MWTA/Strawhats, etc). It was relatively inexpensive, maybe $300-$400 for the weekend since S split travel/hotel costs 4 ways.

Senior year for S has been costly so far - new headshots and travel to NY to shoot the headshots plus group showcase pictures. We will also have costs associated with senior recital and showcase. The school funds the costs of producing showcase; we pay for the week in NY. We have just started to think about that budget - and look at Airbnb so every meal isn’t in a restaurant.

Travel can be a big expense, depending on where you live. Costs of your daughter getting home for holidays and breaks, as well as costs for you to attend her performances, showcases, etc. By far, this was our greatest expense (outside of tuition) due to the distance between school and home.

In addition to what @artskids mentioned, unified type auditions have fees associated with them as well.

They are small costs (but they add up) for sheet music and paying for tracks for practice purposes. Sometimes voice teachers can’t play the piano during voice lessons, so they have to have tracks. I’m not making that up, it happened to my kid.

Having a laptop, printer, and software seems to be a given, but just in case it’s not on your list.

Assuming your D has been doing some combination of singing, dancing, acting-you are probably already paying heftily for this pursuit. Sure, the dance shoes get more pricey and may need to be replaced more often, but really-there are additional costs with many majors/paths. I can almost guarantee you, your D won’t have any $900 textbooks!! It sounds like you have done your research-some programs include pretty much everything, while others may have a voice lesson fee, accompanist fee, etc. Break legs!

Here is a run down of our ancillary costs for Western Michigan’s MT program:

  1. D's textbook costs have been very low compared to her brother's Computer Science program. The average is about $100-150 or less per semester so far. Textbook costs were highest in her Freshman year. She rents her Gen Ed texts and theatre texts have been very low cost.
  2. Dance clothes and shoes have not been a big expense, maybe $100 per year at most (note: D goes out of her way to shop for bargains online and prides herself on keeping these costs down).
  3. No major makeup expense; she is still using the professional make up kit that she had to purchase for her PAHS with a few replacements along the way. She may have had to pay a nominal fee for her make up class.
  4. Accompaniment is $300 per semester for voice lessons.
  5. There is a College of Fine Arts tuition uplift of about $850 per year for 15 hours for non-residents under the new tuition plan. More, if you take more than 15 hours per semester.
  6. She does not have a printer. There are many printers available around campus and there is a 500 page allotment (or something like that) included in her general fees.
  7. Sheet music and downloaded tracks have run about $50 per year.
  8. There may have been some other course fees along the way, but they haven't been significant enough for me to remember them.
  9. As others have noted, if your student wants to attend National or Regional Auditions like Midwest Theatre Auditions, SETC, Stawhats, etc., then you are looking at several hundred dollars in travel costs. But WMU hosts several summer stock auditions on campus and there are regional auditions held in Chicago which is a 3 hour drive or train ride away. Many of her friends, especially the guys, have booked summer work without spending lots on travel for auditions.

The only thing I think we saved money on was books. My daughter had to buy very few.

There’s the fee for private lessons at the school. It’s listed in the fee schedule online. It’s for the weekly voice lesson. Fortunately at Point Park the accompanist is “free”. They have a pool of them paid by the school. Whoever is free accompanies the voice lesson. My daughter has also used the accompanists to go over songs or play her cuts for auditions while she records them.

At Point Park the tuition for the conservatory (COPA) is more than the university’s. Oh joy.

I don’t recall any more cost for my D who attended a BFA program for MT than my D who went to a regular college. One thing that cost less for D in BFA was less textbooks than her sibling had to buy. Didn’t pay any accompanists. Buying sheet music is still less costly than the books in a regular college program. Travel costs were similar for both kids. I never added up the cost of dance clothing. To me, it was always part of her clothing budget overall before she ever went to college. Frankly, it cost a lot less than my other D’s ski racing equipment and clothing in college. But again, we paid for all such things prior to college, plus regular clothing too. My D never travelled to summer stock auditions. For one thing, she only chose to do summer stock one summer (the one after freshman year), and attended Strawhats, but was already attending school in NYC and thus no travel involved. Honestly, we would not have paid to travel to far away auditions so she could secure work, anyway, nor did we for my other kid, but both kids worked in their respective fields every summer during college (away from home). Both our kids had laptops and printers, and this had nothing to do with their field of study. My MT daughter also brought a full piano keyboard to college, but she purchased that with a scholarship she received locally upon graduation. I don’t recall any make up expenses. D had an allowance (plus her own earnings), just as her non-MT sister had, for incidentals. I would put make up in that category.

If your child is a flight or two away, cost to attend performances can be costly. We joke that we vacation in Westerville Ohio.

@soozievt I think those referring to makeup might be talking about the required supplies for the stage makeup class. I know the kit my daughter was required to buy cost $150 which is pricey, but no more so than most textbooks would be for a class. I’m assuming that it is a one time investment. Her personal makeup should be classed as an incidental but due to her love affair with Sephora, Mom does kick in a little here and there to gild the lily. ; )

My D’s biggest expense is transportation. Monthly train pass into the city, plus subway rides probably runs about $200-300 per month. Trips home are about $300 or so each, round trip. Keeping those to major holidays and spring and summer break.
Course fees, yes, and there is a pretty hefty studio fee for musical theatre students. Laundry and printing are included, thankfully, as are voice lessons and the sheet music library. But it’s a private school so you will never hear me call them “free” :))

Makeup, she had a lot and isn’t using more than normal so I’d say 100/year would be my goal there since all she is doing is replenishing. She did get a new metal carrying case for it, with her own money. Dance clothes, she already had a bunch from PA and they are supposed to stay pretty conservative/basic anyhow - I think we bought two extra pairs of tights, one new leotard and a new pair of soft ballet shoes before school started. So it will end up about $200/year at that rate. If she wants la ducas, she is going to need to save her own money for those.
We got her a laptop, that was our big expense but it won’t be every year. Books - a lot of them she was able to print for free from online sources, punched some holes and popped them in a $2 binder. The couple she had to buy, which she will keep, were less than $50.

@sopranomtmom I understand about the makeup for a class. My D did not have a makeup class, alas.

I’m prepared to be shocked with D2’s STEM major textbook costs when she starts college next year! BFA MT D’s book costs have been ridiculously low—$150 a semester would be considered quite high for her; it’s usually far less.

LaDuca’s were a Christmas present last year. She cried when she received them, lol! Other dance shoes were bought right before college. She got a new pair of tap shoes last year. Other dance clothes are just considered part of her normal clothing. My D is extremely budget-conscious and the vast majority of dance clothes are bought on sale.

D sees shows outside her school many times a semester (most at a highly discounted rate; some free). Most of those are in Philly (she’s at UArts); some are in NYC. There’s the train or bus fare to NYC, also, then, but that’s not much at all. She either just takes a day trip to NY when she goes or stays with friends. I think she split hotel costs with a friend once. She went with us once, too.

There’s not a fee for accompanists or voice lessons at UArts. If a student would like additional lesson time than what is required, there is a fee, but my D hasn’t felt that need yet.

Dance courses beyond the required ones can be audited for free at UArts. My D loves taking full advantage of that!

UArts requires certain laptops, but D bought one with money she received for HS graduation.

Printing is included—many more sheets than she’ll ever use, even as someone who is academic-minded.

D hasn’t spent a lot on make-up at all. She just replenishes as needed, and it doesn’t seem like anything that is more money than her regular make-up replenishment is.

Auditioning for summer stock if one chooses to is a cost—registration fee, travel expenses.

Although D likes to walk, she will sometimes take an Uber or the subway if she’s going out of the Arts District where UArts is.

The first couple years, D might’ve spent much too much on sushi and Chipotle, lol, but that was with money she earned. (Most shows, Uber/subway/bus/train rides, make-up, and extras have been bought with money she’s earned, too.)

Really, I feel like we’re getting a tremendous deal for D’s education—both the high quality, caring education within UArts and the rich arts, culture, and history the area provides. D’s scholarships and the free R&B as an RA definitely contribute to that feeling, I’m sure, but even without those, I don’t think that there has to be a tremendous amount of ancillary costs—at least not here.

D goes to school in NYC - and while she often gets great deals on show tickets (sometimes cheaper than a movie in the city!!) sometimes things she REALLY wants to see are more $$, she spends somewhere between $500-$1000 per year on that. We pay for those - and consider it part of her education.

My kid also went to college in NYC and saw lots and lots of theater, which is important to do. We didn’t fund those tickets directly. However, each of our kids were given a monthly spending money allowance on top of their own earned spending money, to use as they saw fit. This was not for regular food (though they could use it to eat out) which we paid for separately, nor for clothing, as they were given a clothing budget too each year (which we did even prior to college).

D had to pay for an accompanist for her weekly voice lessons at $25 per lesson. I think that the need varied per teacher at NYU Steinhardt. Sometimes D used the accompanist for practice sessions, as well, if an audition or showcase was coming up.