I am wondering if anyone can give me an idea of how large the performing arts scholarships can be (best case scenario) at Eastman School of Music. My daughter would like to apply for their composition program, but I would like to get a realistic idea of affordability before we invest a lot of money and effort into prescreen videos. This school is the only one of our target schools that requires a prescreen on my child’s chosen instrument, which is voice. So, we’d be making the video just for this one application.
I honestly don’t know about best case scenario, but S was offered 50% of tuition. You shouldn’t need to invest a lot of $$ into a prescreen video. There are several threads about that if you use the search at the bottom of the page. Eastman is such a wonderful school! Best of luck to you and your D!
Eastman’s website has a detailed scholarship range chart posted:
https://www.esm.rochester.edu/financialaid/cost-of-attendance-undergraduate/
The best scenario for a high-need, top-merit applicant is an award of USD42,000, which is close to 80% of tuition.
Wow I am stunned that their financial aid is driven by merit! I had no idea.
So with the high-need, top-merit student, would they be getting additional need-based aid or just the $42,000?
I believe the chart indicates just the merit portion of the financial package. My daughter is a rising junior there in VP and is getting excited to return. We did our own prescreen videos in a church and our expenses included her voice teacher’s time, paying the pianist and a contribution to the church. My daughter edited them after conferring with her teacher on which take was the best.
"Our financial aid process is driven by merit (your relative ‘ranking’ within the current pool of applicants) and informed by need (the difference between your ‘expected family contribution’ per the FAFSA and the total cost of attendance: tuition, fees, room/board, and other indirect expenses). "
I knew that freestanding conservatories based aid on merit, but thought that the fact that Eastman is part of U. of Rochester would have meant that need would be a stronger factor than merit.
“nearly 100% of our students receive some amount of merit scholarship”
impressive
My recollection from the talk when we visited Eastman this summer was that they said they do not try to meet 100% of need. As you can expect they had a large staff for admissions, so I’m sure they can answer right away
We just visited last week and got the same info as @thisismynameOH, that not all need will be met and consistent with the link provided by @Compojazzmom. The speaker was very clear that there is no full ride. A bit disheartening because my son really liked the vibe of it. However, if you complete your application by November 1, you get a $50 discount on the fee and priority scheduling for auditions.
This information is old, and I have no idea if music schools of interest are included in the 1,388 schools surveyed, but there are only a handful of schools that meet full need without loans. There are likely more now than referenced in the report excerpted below.
“For the 2016-2017 school year, only 66 out of 1,388 ranked colleges and universities reported meeting students’ full financial need, according to data submitted to U.S. News in an annual survey.”
“But only a few institutions among those that claim to meet full need offer financial aid packages without federal student loans. Some of these schools include Amherst College and Harvard University in Massachusetts and Princeton University in New Jersey. Other schools, such as Brown University in Rhode Island and Duke University in North Carolina, only have a no-loans policy for students from lower-income backgrounds.”
“Of the schools that claim to meet full financial need, only two are public universities: the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia. National Liberal Arts Colleges represent the bulk of the schools that meet full demonstrated need, with 40 schools in total, followed by National Universities with 26.”
Bennington met full need (might have been merit-influenced) and there might be other gems out there. But for BM, it’s a different picture. Oberlin was pretty good.
I just did their net price calculator, and the estimated net price is over double my EFC even when I put in that my child in the top third of the applicants, which she may or may not be. The net price is about 42% of our household income. (And we do not have savings beyond the sheltered amount.) Seems to me like a wonderful school for rich people!
My info is oldish. However my D’s UG OOS public university also “advertised” that all admitted music students got an award. The school did, at that time, offer separate auto-academic and music awards…not so anymore…so it’s harder to predict awards now. But at that time my D knew a few students who did not get the academic awards (based on ACT) and the basic music award seemed to be $4000/yr as long as GPA was above a 3.0. I also heard a rumor of $2000 if entering with a GPA below 3.0. So giving everyone merit can sound better in theory than in practice. Still many students did get higher awards particularly if scores/grades and/or talent were high. The amts quoted above were basic … with many higher awards certainly available…but jeez how do you predict that. I still recommend giving it the “the old college try” at schools of high interest if you can afford the pre-screen process bc you never know what the award could be. Nevertheless I did not give much support to my kid at a school that I knew was stingy and that we could not afford without a lot of merit. I felt we had other fine choices so why spend the time on a pricey school. Ironically she is in a show now with a kid from that school. So I’m glad I didn’t spend the big bucks to end up in the same place. Keep that in mind when thinking you can’t afford a school. Maybe you don’t need to…
We controlled costs by DD attending a state university for UG because even with even the conservatories that gave her 75-90% tuition offers the net price was still more than double our in-state costs. We also did want her to think she was “so special that she got into such and such a school” as she will need thick skin and drive. Grad school- we took the attitude that if she had any chance in the biz she would get at least one full ride offer (from a decent school) and close to full rides at prestigious schools and then weigh the options. She was accepted at every school/conservatory but one with full or close to full tuition rides and a fellowship. In our limited experience 'tis better to be a big fish in a small pond as long as the small pond teachers are decent because unless you have a truly exceptional musician UG is for development as those who are truly exceptional at that young age have already been identified and their development pathed. Can’t tell you how many times in summer training programs DD has worked with singers who are completing thier MM in Opera Performance (or have completed it) from high dollar “top” universities and conservatories and have not had a major role, or even covered a major role. So 70K a year x 6 years to be in the chorus? Low or no debt is the way to go for music. don’t sweat the school name, there is likely a state school that will be great
for UG.
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This is great great great advice! S19 has a “top five” that includes our state flagship (which has a music school), two private universities with music schools, and two conservatories. He’ll “follow the money” for undergraduate with the understanding that we’ll help him get the most helpful/prestigious grad degree possible afterward.
@compmom Eastman requires only the FAFSA, not the CSS Profile, so that gives you some sense of how differently the financial aid picture is handled at ESM vs. U of Rochester.
FWIW, my child was offered a merit amount that was a bit above the top of the “top third” range for our EFC level (high EFC). I suspect those may be averages and that it varies a bit by program - some studios may need to offer more merit $ to attract top talent than others.
I agree I believe those amounts are merit only, but I think beyond merit that federal aid (loans, any Pell the student qualifies for) and work study are probably the primary need-based additions to the music merit, and that may not be enough for many families.