<p>We got the official Eastman Package today by E-mail for Vocal Performance.</p>
<p>Total Cost to Attend: $52,745
Total Grants/Scholarships: $26,650
Loans/work study for the difference (majority being Direct Parent PLUS Loan).</p>
<p>Hard to pass up Eastman, but hard to justify the $26,095/yr economic cost to attend vs. $6,000/yr for UW Madison.</p>
<p>OperaDad—yet another reason why some great voices are coming out of state university systems. More and more great voices are going into the regional schools. My MM D is probably going to turn down two great conservatories who have offered grants equal to half
the expense to go to a fabulous in state option.</p>
<p>Did they provide that total cost? Is the tuition going up that much?</p>
<p>I’d say as long as your singer feels good about UW Madison, feels good about the teacher, the facilities, whatever, go for it. </p>
<p>I passed up Eastman- they didn’t offer me anything financially. And look where I am now! LOL (I’m not anywhere, which is why that’s funny) But honestly, I didn’t think I was missing out. I liked the Big 10 :)</p>
<p>OperaDad- nothing about the Rogers Scholarship?
don9992- have you heard anything at all from ESM yet?</p>
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</p>
<p>No. Sigh.</p>
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<p>School provided info:</p>
<p>37,820 tuition
650 books
6,750 room (R&B at UW Madision is $7,700 combined)
4,680 board
240 activity fee
250 comprehensive fee
600 mandatory health fee
205 orientation fee
1,000 personal
500 transportation</p>
<p>52,745 total</p>
<p>These are such complicated decisions. We’re a year past this in my household, and the struggle trying to choose between the good flagship state u program (affordable, broad LA education, close to home) and the conservatory program (expensive, music-specific, far from home) was really tough.</p>
<p>It was so, so hard for us to justify the quadrupled tuition at the conservatory vs the state u for our D. We tried to look at it in so many different ways…go to the state school and save your money for grad school, go to the conservatory and really immerse yourself in music, go to the state school and try to transfer if it doesn’t work out…</p>
<p>OperaDad, our son is a student at UW-Madison, where he sings in an a cappella group. A couple of VP majors have been involved in the group, and my son was really impressed with the quality of their singing and musical knowledge. Just one little snapshot of the music school/scene in Madison.</p>
<p>BTW: we went conservatory. Not looking back, and it was the right fit for us and our D. We’ve gotten used to the amount of $$ it’s costing and aren’t second-guessing. Not trying to talk you into anything, but thought you might be curious as to where the decision-making led us.</p>
<p>It’s tough, but try to set all these decisions aside for a few days at a time to let them percolate on their own. This stuff can drive you crazy! Best of luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for the good thoughts Schleen. DS got very solid packages from both Oberlin and Eastman, for which DS gets a lot of credit – I figure that this is an excellent way that he contributes to paying for his education! </p>
<p>I am happy that conservatories believe in and can fund ample merit scholarships, or else we would be looking harder at other options and might not have such fine options available to us.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone.</p>
<p>OperaDad,</p>
<p>I’m in a similar position to your daughter. My financial aid package for Eastman is not quite as good as hers, but I am absolutely in love with Eastman and have heard from so many contacts that I need to take this chance now to study with the professor. The money doesn’t make it such an easy thing, though. I have a full ride–tuition, room and board, book fees, pretty much all expenses–from University of Cincinnati / CCM. I also have almost the same deal at University of Colorado at Boulder. The problem is that while CCM has a great program, it just doesn’t compare to Eastman, and also, I am just not happy with the teacher. Colorado has a great teacher, but the program is not as good as the aforementioned schools.</p>
<p>I’m hoping there is some way for me to attend Eastman, but with that kind of money given to me from other schools, thinking about so much debt is almost surely a be-all end-all to that thought. I am still keeping an open mind with offers still coming in, but it’s difficult for me to think about passing up Eastman as well. It’s certainly ideal for me in every way–besides the price tag. :(</p>
<p>For what it is worth, when we were looking at CCM for string playing son, he was accepted with generous $$, but string professionals we knew said that the pit playing for operas was not good pedagogically for the string players. No idea if this is a factor for wind players, but there will be a lot of service playing. </p>
<p>Boulder is a great place, and there are lots of opportunities there…very strong dean, too. There are so many orchestras and performance gigs there…might be worth considering if the teacher is especially good. And 300 days of sunshine a year!</p>
<p>Lorelei, thanks for the Boulder plug. I too am partial to CU/Boulder, and, yes, Dean Sher is a wonderful dean.</p>
<p>And just to set the record straight for those about to begin the journey - </p>
<p>1) There are many wonderful music schools with outstanding programs west of the Mississippi.</p>
<p>2) The University of Colorado at Boulder is one of them. CU has a wonderful program, an outstanding faculty, and endless performance opportunities.</p>
<p>Yes, I think I would pick Boulder over CCM. My parents, however, would not. The impression they came away from it with was one of fantastic programs, awesome facilities… and they even liked the teacher (how they came to this opinion, I’m not exactly sure!). I know Boulder’s teacher is far better though, and from the sounds of it the program and ensembles are stronger than I think. I did meet both the dean and the assistant dean personally while I was at my audition, and also the Wind Symphony conductor and the head of the woodwind department. All great! & of course the surroundings are beautiful. I’m finding it rather difficult to convince my parents of anything besides CCM, however. & I’m personally finding it difficult to give up Eastman, especially knowing that I can’t exactly save it for grad school–the teacher may not be there by that time.</p>
<p>oboe09, you may want to contact othermusicdad. His d is a freshman violist at UC/Boulder, and he or his daughter may be able to provide some specifics and generalizations about the program. Granted, we are talking different disciplines, but some direct student or parent input may make your choice a bit easier. </p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Just got U of Rochester’s package. Scholarships and Grants total $26,700, same as Eastman. Any idea if any of those scholarships can be combined?</p>
<p>Wow, OperaDad. I’m guessing they can! At least with our fairly limited knowledge of applying at combined colleges and music schools. I know every school is different. My son decided at the last minute not to apply to Eastman because he was worried about the logistics of attending both sides of the campus there. So we don’t have any Eastman-specific information.</p>
<p>But afterall, your son got one award from the college side and another from the school of music side. Why aren’t they two different offers for two different things your son will be doing there? They are at every college my son has applied to with separate applications.</p>
<p>Wow. Can you imagine Eastman for free?!! It’s gonna be a killer waiting until Monday to find out! Good luck to you and your son! Amazing.</p>
<p>Re: Eastman vs. U-R scholarship packages, I could swear that they told us on audition day that you could take whichever package was better, but not both. Mrs. 9992 remembers it that way as well.</p>
<p>Ohhh… so sad. I hope that’s not true! Both Mr. AND Mrs. 9992 remember it that way? Shoot.</p>
<p>Well, good luck! I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you and your son, OperaDad.</p>
<p>Yes, I heard the same thing, don9992. You have to pick one or the other, but cannot combine the two.</p>
<p>Yes, you do have to pick one package or the other. I was hoping that maybe one of the scholarships might be usable at either school (campus?).</p>