Down to Four Choices...Need Advice

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

My DD has narrowed her college search down to three schools: Northern Kentucky University, Manhattan School of Music, Samford, and Austin Peay.

She was a student in the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts as a junior in high school, which guaranteed her free tuition to NKU. She also has friends there and has heard good things from them about the MT program. She auditioned for and was admitted into the BFA program. She was all set to go there and then the GSA held a College and Career Day in October, kind of like Unifieds except the students audition for all the schools at the same time. She got automatic acceptance/automatic prescreen/on-the-spot scholarships from 15 of the 24 schools that were there. That made her want to consider other schools besides NKU.

She was hoping to get to audition for CCM, but there was a problem with her prescreen not uploading correctly, and so she was not invited to audition. She has narrowed her schools down to NKU, MSM, APSU, and Samford.

Like I said, NKU has given her full tuition. She is also eligible for additional money from the Theatre Dept., plus Kentucky gives students money based on their high school grades and ACT, so she will have most, if not all, of her room and board covered.

APSU has given her a decent amount of money that will cover most of her tuition. She will have to cover the rest plus room and board. Samford gave her about half of their tuition. She is also eligible for additional Theatre Dept. scholarships from these schools, but we won’t know until later in the year if she gets anything.

MSM’s audition is next month. She hasn’t been accepted yet, so it may not even be an issue, but if she is, there’s no way we can afford the tuition, room and board without a substantial scholarship.

All this being said, I am trying to advise her to the best of my ability. I know the musical theatre world is hard to break into. Which schools would be best? I know MSM would be great being in NYC, but it’s SO EXPENSIVE. I don’t want her to have to worry about tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt when she’s working show to show after graduation and having to pay rent, groceries, etc.

I’m so stressed! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

2

@KyDerby - if she likes the program and it’s affordable, it’s a great fit! I would definitely choose a program that didn’t require student loans over a marginally better one that would put a student in debt.

3

Northern Kentucky U sounds great. Go to NYC for summer or semester away with $ saved from full ride at NKU.

4

“I don’t want her to have to worry about tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt”

This is a very good thing to keep in mind.

I have only talked to a very small number of people who have worked in musical theater. However, based on what they said I would avoid taking on any debt. I think that I would assume as the parent that any debt that is taken on will need to be paid back by the parents.

5

I sent you a private message @kyderbymom
I totally agree with the “no student loan debt” advice.

6

We know a ton of people in the biz. And their recommendation has always been the same- graduate with NO debt if at all possible!!

7

What a wonderful position to be in! I would definitely say the heck with MSM if it’s unaffordable! Visit NKU and the other two that offered decent scholarships. If she absolutely LOVES one of the other two and feels like it’s a perfect fit more than NKU, crunch the numbers and see if it’s worth it. But if she likes all three schools pretty much the same, then definitely NKU!

How wonderful to have an option that she likes and can get good training and have ZERO debt!!! And if she goes to NKU, then all the money saved can be used to help her launch in NYC after graduation!

8

And don’t be afraid to go back and ask for more money! Financial aid is often negotiable. It may be down to the wire, because when people get offers and don’t accept the spot, then additional money starts being more available. There are several posts on here from the last few years regarding this.

9

I second this! You can use competing offers to get more money, and a full ride is a darn good competing offer!