Anyone who has questions as NYU studios are released I think there are a bunch of us that can help answer questions.
@theatreloverca thank you! She actually graduated this past May and is on to the next step. It is very exciting. That would be awesome for your D if she could do two studios! Best of luck to her!
Is there a Facebook post for the class of 2022? For all us CC people? Would love to join!!!
Me, too for the FB page @HopeinMT!!
Me as well. I would start it but I am tech challenged.
I posted this on the other page as well but just my suggestion I would wait to do the Facebook group until everyoneâs decisions have been finalized. Class of 2021 made ours in September but I think beginning of the summer would be a good time.
Is there a Financial Aid Issues Board for Class of 2022 BFA-Acting Schools?
If not, here is a short story: Elon University (this year) is so late in getting award information to us and has given me 3 different stories about aid and I literally JUST NOW received the written award for the 2018-19 year. It is April 6th, and my D applied Early Action and was admitted 12/15/17 to the University and 12/21/17 to the BFA-Acting Program. Her FAFSA and CSS Profile was completed and in their office by 01/15/18.
Every other college and university, including those who admitted her to the BFA programs, had financial aid awards to us before March 1.
Really needing to decide between Elon and IWU, because Elon was asking us to fork over more money to travel there for an admitted BFA Acting students event, I asked my daughter to take the initiative and email or call Financial Aid to see if they had completed her FA award and we had just missed it somehow. She did. Someone in Financial Aid sent her an email indicating that she would receive the following (yes, this is written down):
Sub Stafford loan 3500.00
Unsub Stafford loan 2000.00
Federal Work Study 2,500.00
That email was dated March 26th and indicated also: âWe are in the process of completing your file, but in the mean time I have listed your awardsâ above.
I called the FA office on or about March 27th, to confirm. The young woman at the desk verified that this was, indeed, her FA award, and that âwe are in the process of completing your fileâ only meant that they had not yet uploaded these awards in writing on the official accept/deny form so that the student could review them (using their âon trackâ system). She also indicated that there would be NO MORE MONEY awarded, including grant money. This was the completed package.
I thanked her for her time and hung up. I waited for this official award to appear on line for a week, but gave up earlier this week (or was it last week, I canât remember) and called again and asked to speak to the FA Director, because I wanted to appeal the award based on âspecial circumstancesâ â facts that the woman who answered the phone this time indicated were in fact a basis for appeal (i.e., I was looking for grant money since my D was NOT AWARDED a merit scholarship for academics, despite application earlier this semester). I was connected promptly to âDonnaâ who told me that the information the first woman gave me was incorrect and that my D was, indeed, getting grant money based on the âspecial circumstancesâ noted in the CSS Profile. She said the amount being awarded was $6800, and that the stafford loan had been split into subsidized and unsubsidized portions. Since I had seen that already on the email above, I didnât question how much. I simply added the grant award of $6800 (conveyed orally) to the award above. Donna said my Dâs package had just been completed on 03/26 so it would be uploaded soon to On Track.
Then, I asked Donna if there were any other merit based scholarships my D could apply for in subsequent years based on academic performance. She said there were no more except for one based on academic research that I already knew about (extremely hard to get as a performing artist major). She advised me to call the Theater Department to find out about a fine arts award. I told her I had already done that and that my D had been awarded the maximum award there for 4 years. She sounded surprised and said, âhow much is that? The Theater Department has not conveyed that information to us yet.â I told her and she apparently wrote that down.
Today â just now, I pulled up the official financial aid award.
Here it is in all its glory:
Grant: $6,500 (one year, does not need to be repaid) â Note: this is NOT $6,800
UNSUBISIDIZED Stafford Loan: $5,500 annual
Thatâs it. No mention of the Fine Arts Award. I think my D has that based on the letter from the Theater Department and she has ACCEPTED IT, because we have already submitted our $500 deposit (to get a place in line for housing selection based on date the deposit is made â a really unfair way to handle housing in my opinion for students who are WAITING for the financial aid awards before deciding whether to attend the school or not! even those who were admitted early action!!!), but it is not on the official document here, so I am left wonderingâŠ???
I am also at a loss as to what happened to the âsubsidizedâ portion of the Stafford Loan represented in the initial email from FA office, as well as represented orally by âDonnaâ on the phone. The subsidized portion appears to have evaporated into an unsubsidized loan.
My husband and I do not allow the children to take unsubsidized loans that accrue interest, so that loan is off the table now. The original $3,500 subsidized loan was on the table and being considered because we believed our D could possibly pay this off through summer work at home, saved and invested for 4 years and then repay it after graduation.
Also gone is the federal work study offer.
I have to say that this new turn of events really is the nail in the coffin for Elon for me. I am so disgusted that I honestly donât think I can even give my daughter this school as a viable choice to make and that pains me â a lot. It has been her dream school since last March and despite other reservations that have nothing to do with the school, itself, and absolutely nothing to do with what I believe is an excellent BFA program, I simply cannot send her into a situation that costs this much and is this variable â even within a 4 week period.
The School just raised 5M overnight, but it seems to have little or no money for need-based aid.
Every other school she applied to has come through with grants and academic and talent award money in the tens of thousands â some of these schools are small colleges that must manage their money extremely well because they are known by all as âgenerous.â Illinois Wesleyan for example, who just cheered online because it raised a little over 700k for its annual fundraiser. 700k v. 5M? Hmm. Which school is more generous by about 15x or more? Illinois Wesleyan University. And, they are committing to the money for 4 years. None of this âwe will TRY to give her a grant each year if your circumstances remain the same.â
Nope. Not happening. If Elon University people are reading this, take note.
@Noreplays2018 Thatâs some serious BS. I would be furious too.
@Noreplays2018 According to the Elon website Patrick Murphy is the Senior Associate Dean and Director of Financial Planning, Donna Chandler is the Financial Planning Loan Coordinator. You may want to call back and ask to speak directly to the Dean and see if he can straighten it all out. It sounds like your daughter really loves Elon, maybe there is just some sort of crazy mixup with information. Good luck!
@Noreplays2018 ohh wow Itâs late in the game and they still havenât given you everything in order for you to make a wise decision. Iâm so sorry. I will try to look to see if anyone is discussing it through the parent group at my Sonâs school. I do know 4 were accepted but not sure if they are attending. The Parents at his school are pretty transparent with aid, financials etc to share (its why i love it. they want all of our kids to make it and make the best choices possible. No competition there)
Hopefully I can come up with something xx
@Noreplays2018 I totally get your frustration-holy cow! My husband is accompanying my D on 2 of her 3 final 3 visits-And I am so afraid that he/they wonât dot all the Is and cross all the Ts when it comes to financials!!! I am literally typing out a script, for them to ensure that the $ that we THINK we are getting is A. Accurate, and B. Good for all 4 years. OY
@Noreplays2018 how are your Dâs academic stats? Last year Elon offered to stack their 2 top academic awards-even though their website purports that they arenât stackable. Moot-because she didnât get in artistically 
@Noreplays2018 I so feel you. In my Dâs year they gave her a grand total of $1,500. As opposed to other schools that offered upwards of $30k PER YEAR. Guess where she isnât attending?
Has anyone received financial aid info from Emerson College? We are still waiting. They asked for more stiff (w-2 etc)
@owensfolks I think her stats are pretty amazing given the fact that she spends every waking hour outside class in some kind of rehearsal and sometimes multiple rehearsals and then most weekends performing in either her show choir or choir or a play or another rehearsal for community theater with an occasional volunteer day at church etc. but we didnât make her take Huntington to raise her really good score two-3 points for the Ivies bec she didnât want to go there. Who knew Elon would require that. I donât know. Iâm just tired of this.
@acringdreams. They just have me the official FA award. It sucks. Case closed.
I hear you, @Noreplays2018 . The late date of notification AND the inconsistency would probably take the school off the table, if it happened to us. This isnât monopoly money.
So sorry @Noreplays2018 this is a crazy process and I wish we were all done with it already!
Thatâs awful, @Noreplays2018. These kids work so hard to get into a school they like, and then the financial situation becomes a big factor - the least they can do is to give you accurate information in a timely fashion! The contradictions and late notifications are inexcusable. And making the whole $5,500 loan unsubsidized makes NO sense to me - I thought it was always about half subsidized and the other half not.
We just received our last bit of financial information yesterday. We have options, which is good. Kid is just really, really sick of it all, its hard to even have a discussion. Kid was wait listed at Muhlenberg with a 3.62 GPA, which, I must admit, is a relief to me because that was farther than I wanted him to go. I suspect, but will never know, that our high need for aid may have played a role. One bit of information I looked at as a parent, the financial health of the school (the gpa is interesting as well). https://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2017/08/01/2017-forbes-college-financial-grades-a-through-d/#5068e22572f3. I just want kid to decide. We will be the family that presses the button on 4/30 at 11:45 PM.