Congrats @highnotes2018 and @PercussionMama. Fight on!
We didn’t appeal any merit aid. But communicated a lot about financial aid due to “special circumstances.” Regarding merit aid, my kids were uncomfortable, but financial aid is based on clear cut guidelines and so they were comfortable with that. That said, schools sometimes offered more based on merit, without us doing anything. Everyone’s different and I do think some kids are understandably uncomfortable, enough for them to say no to the school. Might not be smart but it is not uncommon.
Congrats to the USC folks! ?? It’s always a nice bonus when it’s unexpected!
It’s raining $$ today!!!
@lkbux64 @PercussionMama @highnotes2018 - beyond excited for you and the unexpected USC news. Fantastic! Seems like your decision is now much easier. Congrats!
@LaurelVDW - congrats to you on the Hartt news. Great school.
Finally got the NEC award info. from my daughter. She got more than we expected…so that’s good news! We are still waiting for other award $$ so I don’t want to list it here publicly but will do so when the other awards are in.
Still waiting for SFCM and Berklee packages - and New School decision…the wait is a killer!
That’s great, @tripletmama! Wonderful news! We’re almost at the finish line…hang on, everyone…
Yay @tripletmama! So happy for you and your daughter!
Yay @tripletmama
Congrats @tripletmama and all the other good news from @lkbux64 @PercussionMama @highnotes2018 and @LaurelVDW - These are great news!!!
Ditto!!
Hi. I’ve been a parent lurker here and just created an account now to post. My son is admitted to USC Thornton for jazz studies. Based on posts here, I had him check the financial aid portal and it shows $25,000 Music Scholarship Fund ($12.5K for Fall and $12.5K for Spring). That’s wonderful as USC is his top choice and any merit based aid is a bonus. This is probably a stupid question but is this Music Scholarship Fund a four year award i.e. should he expect to get it each year unless he bombs school? Or is it just a one time (first year) award? Thank you!
@DrummerDad18 - thanks for sharing that article. Rang so true to me! We were like you and your family. We were lucky enough that my hubby rode the high tech boom - and I invested in real estate and had a market research business. And then life happened. After having our first child when I was 38 and not wanting an only child, we ended up having triplets at the age of 40! The day I went on bedrest my hubby (who was doing well in high tech) began having seizures - just as we were in the middle of building a very expensive home in the Bay Area. After 10 years of trying to stop the seizures, he had to give up working.
Although we tried to reduce our cost of living by moving out of CA, with four kids involved in sports, music, dance - it was tough. We didn’t adjust our lifestyle enough. And I went through two bouts of breast cancer. So, life got difficult. Then two of our kids went to an Arts School and became passionate about the Arts. I have to say, that’s when things got really difficult! 
The percentage of our disposable income devoted to our Arts kids was/is high. It did pay off for our Ballet Boy who now has nearly a full-ride to the best ballet school in the U.S. and will hopefully be gainfully employed next year. We just assumed that his triplet sister would do the same in the music world. We have yet to see if that’s going to happen. Needless to say, we are sitting on pins and needles right now.
But in the meantime, reading that we aren’t the only ones that can’t afford to invest $200k into our musician’s education makes me feel better. It tears me up when I think about the amount of $$ that we spent on pre-school (when times were good). We likely wouldn’t have blinked an eye at $50k/year for college at that point - but times have changed.
And the moral of our story? (for those that might be reading this with younger kids and a booming career). When things are good, save. Support the arts, but don’t spend like there is no tomorrow. Start a college savings program. Buy disability insurance. Don’t spend a fortune on pre-school! (it’s just the ABC’s), or expensive cars and homes. You never know what curve ball life will throw you.
Oh - and one other point. I do think it’s a travesty that musically gifted kids are not getting the same amount of scholarships as academically gifted kids. But - sadly, the Arts is not a hugely profitable business. Money begets money. It’s the way of the world. I agree with HereWeGoAgain - we need to help these colleges fundraise. There should be more Curtis and Colburn’s - where talented musicians can go regardless of their financial status.
@waterchange it should be a four year award! Congrats!
The last one is in Vanderbilt … waitlisted… we are not sure exactly the odds of getting off? how do we proceed? do we email the horn coach? or admissions? this would be her first choice now… and recommendations are welcome.
@mperrine I think keeping the communication open is always a great idea. If it is her first choice, make sure everyone there knows that. It’s a numbers game on their end too. Let them know what you are up against, what you are considering, etc. Email horn teacher, admissions, and financial aid. EVERYONE.
((In our case, we only say it’s our first choice to the one school that actually is first choice. And we tell them why so they know it is a carefully thought out decision.))
GOOD LUCK. I think music kids can get off waitlists and every year is different.
@MomOD4 - I completely concur with your advice. With triplets, it was next to impossible to get them into pre-schools, schools, etc. I would just keep calling our first choice and tell them that it was our first choice and why. You’d be amazing how much that helps. Be genuine and persistent in your communication - we are all anxious to hear how that works.
I must confess. was a little upset this morning after learning that my son only got $8000 music scholarship. I was not being appreciative. After thinking about it for a day, I now came to the realization that the total amount of scholarships that my son got is generous considering that he’s going to also study computer science. CS is a very competitive program to even get in, not mentioning the Presidential Scholarship. There are so many high stats NMF couldn’t even get into the program.
I’ll contact USC tomorrow and try to make sure that he could get into CS in the fall semester. He’ll try to pursue both CS and music and when it’s getting too difficult to manage both, then he’ll just drop music and the $8000 scholarship associated with it.
Ok - who are we going to push pins into our vodoo doll for tonight for making us wait? The New School, Jacobs, Berklee, SFCM, NYU…anyone else to add to our vodoo doll list??
@tripletmama - add Peabody to the list!
As I know:
Peabody—Monday, April 1st
MSM—Friday, March 29th
Berklee—Sunday, March 31st