<p>We've all read many times on this forum about how it makes no sense for kids to come out of their undergraduate music degrees with debt. I agree whole heartedly with that, but what about graduate school? My S is now talking about grad programs at places such as USC-Thornton, NEC, and U. Miami-Frost, and say, for example, he were to get scholarships of $25k or so, that still leaves a huge gap. If he were going to law school, I wouldn't be so concerned, but how does a young musician handle that level of debt? I'm a little confused as to whether grad programs are generally more expensive or less expensive than undergrad, and I'm wondering if there's some part of the math that I'm overlooking. I know that often grad students get a TA position covering tuition plus a stipend, but is it realistic expect that from two years in an MM program, or is that the exception? How do graduate music students generally cover the cost of their graduate degrees?</p>
<p>He could look into applying to be a residence director for a dorm that would cover housing plus a small stipend. At both of my sons’ schools, the RDs are grad students. Hopefully, with teaching private lessons, maybe a TA job and a scholarship, your son can bring down the debt load of grad school.</p>
<p>My D (voice MM) took the approach that she would only attend grad school if she was good enough to qualify for enough grants to cover the expense. Some students, like my D, take off an additional semester or year to work hard at their craft, continue lessons, mature, save money and make sure that they are at the top of the talent pool. I’m not sure if this applies to your son’s instrument, but it does work for others. She only applied to schools that she knew were worthwhile(ie no “safeties”) and ultimately was able to base her decision on money and potential professional opportunities. Also when the student is responsible for their own graduate education, they are doubly motivated and somehow they find money.;)</p>
<p>My son is a music ed major and a while back, just to satisfy my own curiosity, I made a comparison chart using the teacher pay for our school district that is published on their website. I figured up the present value of a lifetime of earnings for a teach with a bachelors degree and immediately starting teaching and teaching for 40 years, then I did the same thing, only I assumed $20k out of pocket for two years of grad school and 38 years teaching at pay schedule for someone with a masters, and the same thing again assuming another two years for a terminal degree.</p>
<p>Over the course of the lifetime, just teaching in public school the masters degree senario yielded something like an extra $200k after all costs and the doctorate was another $150k over a masters (sorry I don’t remember the exact figures). So for a teacher, even accounting for the opportunity costs, grad school made sense. In most other normal professions, it would probably make even more sense.</p>
<p>Of course in music performance, it would be a total crapshoot. After someone already has been studying music for 10+ years, just how much better are they going to get in another couple of years? I dunno. </p>
<p>I guess if it would make the difference between the dream job and no job, yea, grad school makes a lot of sense, even if you have to takeone some reasonable debt to do it.</p>
<p>Most schools tend to offer more money to grad students than to undergrads, but within the same school some undergrads can get full rides while some grad students get nothing, so there is great variability. The money can take the form of outright scholarship, teaching assistantships, and other work. You do need to do some research and ask plenty of questions.</p>
<p>Given the uncertainty of decent paying jobs in the performance fields, I think that musicamusica’s daughter’s approach was wise: only do grad studies in performance if one is good enough to get all or most of one’s expenses are covered. Obviously, individual tolerances for debt vary and families vary in their abilities to pick up the financial slack.</p>
<p>As imagep notes, performance is much more of a crapshoot for future income than is music ed. For a music ed major, graduate degrees make a lot of sense.</p>
<p>Oh, and a lot of law grads are having trouble finding work that will cover their debts.</p>
<p>Some school districts even require all their Music Ed teachers to obtain a Masters degree within a specified number of years as a condition of continued employment if they only have an undergrad degree when they start.</p>
<p>I’ve just come out of applying to DMA programs, and I think perhaps the best thing to do when applying to grad school, if money is a big factor (as it probably should be), is to contact all the schools you are interested in, and before you even apply, ask them upfront how well their grad students are funded. Ask for figures like what percentage of graduate students get any scholarship at all, and also what percentage of MM and DMA students get full funding (as defined by at least a tuition waiver and a stipend). Of course, the fact is that a few top students at nearly every school will have full funding, but the proportion of students being funded varies widely from school to school (one top school even told me they do not typically fully fund ANY of their DMA students, only musicology PhDs). Many well-known schools are notoriously unable to provide much financial aid. If you have friends at any of the schools you are interested in, it is probably also good to ask them for impressions regarding the level of aid typically available, though that might be somewhat less accurate than going to the admissions office directly.</p>