@type1mom - I hate that Syracuse Talent scholarships haven’t gone up with the tuition. But for those of us in that doughnut hole- it’s still a lot less than NYU- $60 vs $79. It’s really difficult.
There are several schools that are now $60,000 + when all costs are considered, not just Tisch but also Carnegie Mellon, Syracuse, BoCo, Emerson, Northwestern, to name just a few. These numbers need to be carefully considered when deciding which school to attend, as they are bound to increase each year. As has been said many times here, theatre kids are going to be at a huge disadvantage if they graduate with debt. That can’t be emphasized enough. Parents need to also consider what they can comfortably afford without mortgaging their own future and their retirement.
@type1mom Thanks for the link - I shared this on the MT page last week, I believe! Yes, it will definitely take some financial aid/merit miracle to get to some of these schools!
@alwaysamom Add Pace to your list. It starts at 68,000 but by senior year it is 79K. I don’t understand it
When we started this process, I was so excited learning about all the programs, thinking what would be a good fit for my son. I read a book and thought as long as he was in the top 25% of the class, aid would work out. Then, I went over to the financial aid forum on CC, and realized I had my head up my a$$ on how to create a list. We looked at finances big picture, and came up with a number that we could spend per year per kid. My son changed from BFA to BA to undecided (maybe do something in addition to theater) and we created our lists using each college’s net price calculator. I cannot believe it took me so long before I even knew each college had a NPC. We’re not young parents, kids will overlap 3 years in college, and we’re not willing to put retirement in jeopardy. All of our acceptances are within the range we planned on, and I’m grateful that my son isn’t so set one school and is on board with the minimum debt idea. The college costs are crazy, but if you put a lot of thought into the list up front, it reduces the financial aid surprise factor. It also helps to have $ discussions during the list building and searching process. I just don’t want anyone starting this journey to get too discouraged about finances, but give yourself lots of time to put together the pieces to this college puzzle. Go read posts on the financial forum (gets rough over there, but you’ll learn tons)
@DoinResearch Wise counsel. No sense spending a ton of time trying to get into schools whose net price calculators show they are unaffordable from day 1.
Net price calculators are a godsend! We originally had BU on our list, but when I ran the NPC and it said she would get NO aid, I took it off immediately! (I do understand why: my D has a 92 average and 1340 SAT, which is good enough for merit aid at the other schools on her list, but not for a school with strong academics. We didn’t apply to NYU either.)
I just printed out the “NYU shopping sheet” in the admitted students “to do list” section. My goodness - by year 4 NYU will cost $88,102. Wowza.
@takealeap I think they try to keep the AT cohort at around 20 students. MT usually around 24-28 although my daughter’s group is 32 this year.
I am shocked that Pace has gone up that much! My D just graduated in May 2017…did I really pay that much? I don’t think I did! She had a $19,000 per year scholarship but still that seems like much more than we were paying!
I never thought that I’d say this. DePaul seems to not only have given out Outstanding Talent scholarship/merit scholarship. Their tuition is large but not that large. Putting my kid into a dorm for the first year with the cost of tuition is still less than an in-state tuition bill at the cheapest university in IL… We do have an offer at Pace but once again, the tuition increases into a Ginormous amount. The program that my S has chosen is very new. A graduate from their 1st graduating class has reached out to him for a little persuasion. We did get a Merit scholarship for NYU but My goodness! it’s still expensive. Rutgers out of state puts us back to “do we really want to pay this ?” It’s great to have options but the bottom line for us is the best program without going broke. I don’t want to mortgage our house for this. I am sorry to drag on about these acceptances knowing that some haven’t received any acceptances thus far. My heart breaks for those. It also breaks for those who can’t afford these programs. it breaks for those who can but would it put a huge dent into their family financials ? We’re exciting but a bit frustrated at the same time. If you take $$ out of the picture, the options are so different, it’s still hard to decide. May can’t get here fast enough for my stress level but then my heart will be aching because graduation will be a few weeks afterwards and I will officially be an empty nester
Are there any parents of current Syracuse acting students in this thread? We have a few questions about housing, etc., and would love to connect with a current drama student. Thank you so much in advance!
UMich is also huge $$ if you’re out of state.
Aside from any possible tuition hikes, juniors and seniors pay higher tuition than freshman and sophs. Maybe this is true at a lot of schools, but they don’t go out of their way to advertise that fact. Caveat emptor it is.
@ginaf1102 - NYU actually got LESS expensive for my D over the 4 years. What I found is that her scholarship/aide increased every year - by senior year it was double what it was as a freshman. No idea if that is typical - but it has been nice!
Drew is dropping its tuition by 20% for next year…
@actingdreams My son and I saw a play at DePaul, and it was the best thing I have ever seen. Ever. It was very difficult to watch, my son was actually muttering to himself during the performance because they had done things that he felt “crossed a line”, which it had, but that was the point. To this day, the play stills has an impact on me. I vote DePaul for anyone that gets in 
@katew529 western Michigan participates in the Midwest tuition exchange https://wmich.edu/admissions/msep I’m sure other schools as well. I was surprised that my graduate school University of Kansas participates with IL as well
Thanks, @toowonderful! I had no idea that kind of blessings happen - I wonder if it is typical? I think I am going to put that on my list of FA questions.
For anyone interested in applying soon or even next year. Here is a link for the Tuition exchange for the Midwest. http://msep.mhec.org/institutions?field_state_term_tid=1&field_program_type_term_tid=12&field_sector_term_tid=10&=View+Search+Results
Pace tuition - just the facts
Here’s the progression of Pace tuition increases for the duration of my son’s attendance (Fall 2015 - graduates Spring 2019). The annual increase approximates the national inflation rate. So I think it is economcally reasonable and demonstrates that Pace is a prudent fiscal steward (doesn’t gouge).
As many on these boards have mentioned, Pace is also very generous with their merit and need (gift) aid, which brings the actual cost of attendance within reach for many families. My two kids have received $25K/year and $30K/year gift aid. That’s a total of $220K support that other schools in the same price bracket haven’t offered.
I encourage everyone to dig deep into the tuition trends and financial aid trends at the universities under consideration. Comparison of your net cost of attendance is the only fair and accurate way to use factor cost into the decision.
Academic
Year. Tuition (annual $ increase; %increase)
2015-16. 39,692
2016-17. 41,120 (1,428; 3%)
2017-18. 42,234 (1,114; 2%)
2018-19. 43,264 (1,030; 2%)
Overall increase from 2015 to 2018
$3,572 (9%)