While you’re trying to get a grip on cost differentials among colleges, don’t assume that living off-campus will cost less than on-campus. It really depends on the local real estate market. For one of my kids, off-campus was cheaper; for the other, It was not.
@gram22 My daughter is a Thornton student. If she leaves Gateway after 10 PM, she takes Lyft. USC pays for it.
Regarding costs, estimate high, hope it’s lower. It’s just better that way. With our other kids we found the first year was what we expected, then tuition increases and room/board costs drop a little once they can get off the meal plan. The inflation in cost is in the meal plan.
S is visiting Luther College this weekend to audition for music scholarships and see what he thinks of the cold Midwest. We are waiting for a decision from just one school. He’s accepted at Luther (nonaudition BA) and at his other two audition school’s on both his instruments, which is great. Music scholarship info has not yet been sent out from any of his school’s.
@ChenXiaoYun: I’ve told this kid that, but there’s an “ego” factor that I cannot get past ! LOL.
Congrats @sbjdorlo ! Pretty cool to be in the position where you know the kids going to college 
@WestOfPCH I also follow a USC class of 2023 thread. The word over there seems to be that USC is likely to mail out admissions notifications (presumably including Thornton) sometime around 3/22-3/24 with the portal being updated sometime that weekend.
We are still waiting for 4 big decisions (although we’re pretty sure about at least 2 of them) and just as importantly, scholarships and/or FA info from 6. I don’t expect any info before 3/23, so I’ve cut back on portal checking to only every 2 or 3 days. However, even after we get our decisions, a couple of them might not release scholarships/FA until a couple of days or a week after admissions. Grr. We were so excited when she got her admit to UMich, but now we’ve been waiting soooo long to find out if we can even afford it.
Yes @PercussionMama that’s the thing — is it a real option?
My son is a singer songwriter. Pop music. We got acceptance for Calarts today. We did portfolio for audition and did not go to the School. My son is interested in the pop music track. He is also accepted to Belmont and waiting on Berklee and UM. Anyone go to Calarts? Any thoughts about this school.
@jacole Congrats! I’d highly recommend visiting the school and asking for a proper tour before accepting. When we went on the college tour, we came away feeling that CalArts was way too ‘out there’ - unstructured, independent, highly expressive sort of place that would fit someone totally certain of their craft and needing a place with the resources and space to allow them to explore and create. And boy do they have resources!
Unfortunately, our son felt like he needed to learn a lot more in a structured, disciplined environment before he’d be comfortable feeling like he’s ready to just go out there and explore. At an undergrad level, I tend to agree with that philosophy.
We went to Belmont a couple of times and absolutely loved it. A real university experience, though not a large one. Music is a very prominent in their overall curriculum - whether it’s performing, songwriting, recording, or entrepreneurship.
We are on cloud #9 over here! My D was moved off of the Waitlist and offered admission to UT today! It’s one of her top picks! We are just waiting to hear from two more schools and receive music scholarship offers. I am so thankful to the students who may have released their offers so that we didn’t have be in limbo with UT until May.
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@BassoonMom2019 Congratulations!!
@BassoonMom2019 - yahoooooooooooo!!! So happy for your daughter!!! I hope that that this is a string of good news for all on this board. All the time and effort paid off!!! =D>
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@BassoonMom2019 great news!!
Fantastic news, @BassoonMom2019 !
@jacole - our daughter has a friend at CalArts. He doesn’t like it because he feels too far away from LA and the music scene. (it’s 45 minutes away - without traffic).
Congratulations @BassoonMom2019 what a great school!!!
Keep ‘em coming everyone!
Thanks everyone!!
Congrats @bassoonmom2019 to you and your D! ? Keep ‘em coming everyone!
Congratulations @BassoonMom2019 and D. That is a great studio from what we have heard! We plan to visit it over the next few months. Such wonderful news!
Wow this thread e plodded in light of the scandal. @tripletmama I’m sorry your D’s friend got caught up in this. It’s a shame that the sins of the parent on behalf of the sister will likely be visited upon her. We are all upset about the children who have been cheated as a result of the crimes perpetrated but younger siblings from these families could also be cheated so it’s lose lose all around.
What happened to USC boy is a tragedy. Any murder is a tragedy but to be cut down so you g makes it sting that much more. But I do agree that the safety of the school hasn’t changed, just the perception. It’s something I thought a lot about when S was interested in physics. UofC was like a dream school to me for him but I was constantly reading online about how dangerous it is. Although it is in a slightly seedy part of town, it probably seems more so to the rural families posting about how scary it seemed to them on websites. I kept thinking there are much worse parts of town and you just need to be smart… use the buddy system, don’t pay more attention to your phone than your surroundings, utilize safety patrol for nighttime escorts… even if you are a male. Preparing our kids to utilize the safety resources on any given campus is all we can do.
So many families with wonderful news. Congratulations to all. And for the rest waiting on news I feel your pain. I THINK our wait on our final admit (and top choice) might finally be over but can’t confirm until it’s official. Got a lovely email this evening. But, have to wait for official news from admissions which SHOULD have been here by now. Waiting on financial aid from 6 schools though so can’t exactly accept anything, especially with one more scholarship audition to come. It will be like pulling teeth to get S to go if his acceptance comes through.
I am so sorry to the family who got the scholarship rescinded. That’s a rough blow. (I’m sorry I read so many pages tonight that not all names are sticking with me.)
Our news of the week was a financial aid revision Wednesday adding a music scholarship that we thought would replace need based aid (as original FA Award started additional scholarships could cause a revision there) but was pleasantly surprised that it was just added on making the package more attractive. Thursday brought news of a music scholarship to another school but have no financial aid package yet so no idea what it will mean in total. School musical also began. During intermission found an email had come in with good news from the studio he was hoping to be admitted to. So praying today’s mail has good official news.
However waiting on six financial aid packages has me up in this site at 3 in the morning. Much overdue for sleep. Praying all your mailboxes are overflowing with an abundance of happiness today.