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Yes I have no doubt NYU deserves a spot on that hall of shame list. I do want to remind people though that just because a school offers grants and scholarships, doesn’t mean that you are going to receive one. Be aware of the practices at each school you are interested in and if you know for sure money is going to be an issue, include schools that are just plain less expensive even if you don’t get a penny in grant or scholarship money. For example, Tisch and CMU actually cost the same in terms of just tuition (around 48K) though room and board is of course cheaper in Pittsburgh than in NYC. Northwestern is right behind it at 47K and though they are one of the schools that meet 100% of need, if you don’t have any need they might be happy to have you pay the whole thing. U Mich is 45K for out of state. BoCo around 42K. In contrast, Montclair is 20K for out of state and it might even offer instate tuition to the BFA program for out of state residents maybe @calliene can verify that. It looks like it does on the website. TSU does the instate tuition for sure and theirs is around 9K including fees. (Sigh… these schools are really bargains.) In between you might find a school like Pace at 38K but Pace seems to have a practice of discounting tuition for good students so it seems like coming down from that number is doable. There are many other schools that are known to do this too but practices can change from year to year so your best bet is including some schools that are just cheaper in the first place even if you do not get a dime. Pay close attention to location as well because sometimes it isn’t the tuition that will kill you, it’s the room and board. </p>
<p>Excellent post. Another of my favorite spreadsheets shows one school per column with the following rows: </p>
<p>Tuition, Room, Board, Fees, Other Expenses, TOTAL EXPENSES, </p>
<p>Academic Merit Grant, Talent Merit Grant, Need-based Grant, TOTAL OFFSETS, </p>
<p>NET COST</p>
<p>Schools that charge very dissimilar tuition amounts can end up looking pretty equal. </p>
<p>Laboring under the delusion that organizing all the data will give us control over the chaos since 1975.</p>
<p>For those who will have multiple kids in college simultaneously, I’d also urge you to very carefully investigate how that will impact your financial aid at various schools. If your EFC is slightly above tuition, you will obviously qualify for no aid with one child enrolled. But, for example, once our younger S started college Northwestern (policy of meeting 100% of need) basically gave us two-for-one tuition, unlike many State schools who calculate need as if you are receiving In-State tuition (even for Out-of-State kids). Combined with D’s ability to graduate early due to AP credits, our total cost at NU will end up being less than our State flagship would have been with in-state tuition.</p>
<p>In addition, the school has funded many amazing experiences for our kids, including travel, Master Classes, competition fees, tickets to dozens of performances, recording costs and various other opportunities that would be hard to put a price tag on. </p>
<p>So when comparing prices of various options, it is important to look at the big picture.</p>
<p>As stated in earlier posts- every school is different. D was also accepted at Northwestern- would have been more for us than NYU, and Boston which would have been about the same as NYU, they didn’t offer any aide. The ones I hate to remember are the ones which would have been way less - but we’re alas not the right “fit”</p>
<p>Poor fit would bring with it many costs, toowonderful. No hindsight!</p>
<p>MomCares…great points. My girls, though two years apart chronologically, attended college just one year apart. Thus, other than the first year for oldest D, I had two kids in college at the same time throughout the four years that younger D was in college (older D also went to four years of grad school). With two in college, our need shot way up, like yours did. In fact, D1 attended a school that meets 100% of need and her grants were way higher starting in her sophomore year when D2 started at NYU. So, anyone with more than one kid in college at the same time is going to be able to show more need. </p>
<p>Like with your kids, the colleges funded things too. D2 got two free trips with NYU/Tisch…including one to Brazil. She also was hired in a performing capacity several summers by NYU and that came with free housing and food, on top of a salary. Obviously, there were other opportunities that I can’t put a price on but just mentioning these “freebies” so to speak. NYU/Tisch also nominated her for a national award that she won upon graduation and that award came with prize money. I will also mention that NYU gave my D the best FA package and scholarships than all the other BFA in MT programs she was accepted to. I will also mention that at D1’s undergrad school, Brown, which is an expensive university, but offers to meet 100% of need, upgraded their policies right after my D graduated and had she attended after 2008, she would have gotten a far more generous grant than the already very generous grant because they increased the income level of families that would qualify for a lot of aid. That D attended two well known grad schools and got into many other well known ones and all offered some of the aid in the form of scholarships. Granted, after all these scholarships for both daughters, we still have had to fund a lot of money and have taken out a lot of loans that I am still paying back. But the ticket price to these well known expensive colleges were not the original ticket prices listed and not necessarily the most expensive schools when all was said and done. Also, I forgot, but D1 got grants for trips overseas from her first grad school, including one summer after she was no longer even enrolled! Oh, and at undergrad school (as well as a grad school), D1’s schools paid her to be a TA. </p>
<p>This is all very inspiring, but we should all remember that very few of the theater/MT conservatories mentioned here meet full need and that lots of families get gapped pretty hard. </p>
<p>You’re (Jkellynh) right that very few BFA programs meet full need. Even though my kids got scholarships and grants, their educations have required a lot of loans on our part. I venture to assume that a huge number of people don’t have all the money on hand to pay for college with current funds, and particularly if they have more than one child. </p>
<p>I would also encourage people with young children to start saving now. The financial aid calculations weigh income a LOT more heavily than savings, especially if the savings are held in the parents’ names. It’s hard to predict what your job or income situation will be in a decade or more, but if you start putting money away early (like at birth) and don’t touch it, you can save yourself and your kids a lot of heartache. </p>
<p>@halflokum, no, Montclair does not automatically give in state tuition to out-of-staters like TSU does, but OOS-ers ARE eligible for academic and talent scholarships (which can bring it down to near or below in-state tuition) but even without that, it’s a bargain. Tuition, all the (many! - and if you’ve never had a kid in college, prepare for these!) fees, including hour long voice lessons with a masters-prepared voice teacher and a professional accompanist, a single room in a gorgeous dorm with air conditioning and a full bathroom that she shares with just one other person, guaranteed housing, full meal plan, fantastic facilities, faculty who are working professionals in NYC, 12 miles from Manhattan in a gorgeous upscale town sets us back less than 35K a year out of state. I have said frequently that I give thanks to NJ taxpayers every day. My daughter narrowed her acceptances down to 2 favorites: Montclair and BoCo, that she agonized between. We had saved diligently and were prepared to send her anywhere, but BoCo, which gave her NO money, after housing and an hour voice lesson, was almost 70K a year, TWICE as much. Montclair (which on top of the bargain it already was, gave her a small scholarship) just made sense to us, especially since she may need emergency help during those starting-out years after graduation. BoCo of course is a more established name school and we gave that up for the newer and lesser-known, and we will never know if that was a wise choice or not, but she feels she is getting top-notch training.</p>
<p>None of us get to see “the road you didn’t take”. That is one reason that research and a family plan are so important- so that everyone (kid and parent) feel good about choices being made- b/c no matter how you slice it, it’s too much $$ to spend on something that isn’t what you want it to be. @calliene - Montclair sounds great, and if your D is thriving there, that makes it the right place at any price 
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<p>Yes, absolutely, @toowonderful, and when “just one acceptance” is the starting-out goal, having a “road not taken” - or several roads - is a wonderful thing to ponder. “Fit” has so many facets, money being just one of them. The school has to just “feel” right, crazy as that sounds. Vocal 1046 is so right that “Poor fit would bring with it many costs.” Listen to your gut.</p>
<p>@calliene I knew you would eventually show up to correct my madness if wrong. I hate pretending to know something about schools my kid does not attend but I did read the website before posting and wasn’t sure what I was looking at. In any case, I was also pretty sure I wasn’t mad just saying that a school like Montclair is one that you are way ahead financially no matter where you live - instate or not, scholarship or not. Plus I like Montclair township a lot for reasons I won’t get into but hint… they have a great shop for simit which I’m pretty partial to and theirs is authentic tasting even if not sold by a 6 year old in the middle of freeway traffic before an on ramp to a toll bridge. Few readers here will get that reference but look for the simit anyway. 
Way yummier than bagels.</p>
<p>Haha @halflokum I admit I had to look up what simit is (and geez, autocorrect does NOT like that word), but not surprised Montclair has it because the shopping and restaurants there are fab. Which store?</p>
<p>@calliene, Simit House Bakery. 2 Church Street. Have one for me next time you are there :-)</p>