<p>Hi all, I'm wondering if any current dance majors would be willing to share any costs specific to dance majors that we should account for in our budget.<br>
What have you had to pay for as a dancer in a college program? Dance shoes? Costumes?
Specific make-up for performances? Anything else?
I just want to include this in costs for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>My DD attends school in Pennsylvania so this is what is the norm for her university-</p>
<p>My dgt’s dance program tries to keep costs to a minimum. She has always had to buy her own shoes but the program has not required any specific ones. Her program is modern based so they typically dance without shoes anyway. She has really good tap shoes - K-360’s that we bought several years ago and they are wonderful still. As for costumes, they buy off the rack and keep them very reasonable - like $20. There is also a “costume closet” that the school has and they choose costumes from there. I believe many other schools have similar things. They really try to recycle costumes as much as possible. She also has bought small presents for her performers when she has been the choreographer, nothing too major. She has used a lot of body glue and shared that with other dancers. Many of her friends had never used this and think it is amazing.
As for parents - there is the cost of attending her performances. I still really like to see what she is doing and go to her shows whenever possible. She just had her fall concert this weekend. We had the hotel costs, meal costs- gas to get there- that sort of thing for the two days. The shows themselves were reasonable but if you are adding together all costs of attending then you should be aware of things you might not consider. She is also in the dance sorority and fees are only $20 a semester. She did have to buy a jacket for the dance team and that was $35. I really can’t think of anything else.</p>
<p>My DD is at UArts (which I know is on your audition list) and I have a good friend who has a daughter at UB. For both of our DD’s there has been very little extra costs associated with those dance programs. I have not had to purchase a costume (costumes are made from street clothes or basic leos/dancewear so far), there have been NO books to purchase (UArts is big on digital course materials), no special shoes. I believe UB has a large costume department in house IIRC.</p>
<p>I would say that probably an unexpected cost you may want to budget and research for is possible chiropractic or PT care while at school. DD has not had to use either (sees her Chiro at home) but has a friend who had an injury and had substantial PT while at UArts. There may be a massage therapist on staff but I believe there is a charge (I think I saw an email). IDK about your insurance but with ours it would be about $15 - 25 co-pay each visit. Oldest DD had a couple of months of 3 times weekly PT at her college and it was painful to my wallet.</p>
<p>If your DD does end up in Philly or another large city I would hold off on the monthly pass for public transit until she gets a feel for how often she would use public transportation. My DD only takes the subway to work as it is walking distance to/from school for her (even from her off campus apartment). The dorms are pretty much around the block or a couple of blocks from the main dance buildings.</p>
<p>Thanks so much to both of you. I hadn’t even considered the PT care costs, but that is a good point! She is not auditioning at UArts, but has been accepted into the dance program at UB. One more audition this weekend (Pace) and then we wait.</p>
<p>My DD’s school includes PT if needed, there is no additional cost. She has not had to use them, and hopefully that will stay that way.</p>
<p>She has had to buy some dance books - her professors have written most of the ones that are required. :)</p>
<p>BoCo includes PT, as well as appointments with nutritionist, some massage, and counseling services. Their student services are really strong. Our son, an MT, strained his back in jazz class, and he took advantage of some PT on campus.</p>
<p>lammbb66: It is not unusual that professors at colleges and universities have written the textbooks the school requires for their courses. I went to Community College and several of the professors there had written their own textbooks. A couple of friends of mine are college professors and they told me once that at the university they taught at it was required in their contracts that the professors published a certain amount of text and papers.</p>