<p>Hi all! I was accepted to American University as a WMP student for the fall and then a musical theatre major for the spring. It’s my dream school and I want to commit but money is an issue. They offered me a small loan ($5500) but nothing in merit (granted my stats are a little below the usual, I think I got in based on my major…).</p>
<p>I received very large scholarships from my other schools (around 20K). I’m wondering if it is worth it to call American and explain to them that they are my top school, but with no aid it is going to very tough to attend. Are they the kind of school who will help me out if I ask?</p>
<p>I hesitate to offer nothing but discouragement, but I have nothing very encouraging to offer.</p>
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<li><p>Borrowing heavily for a degree in Musical Theatre doesn’t seem like a great investment to me. Borrowing heavily for a degree in Musical Theatre from American, less so. I really like AU, and I really respect its commitment to the arts, but let’s be honest here: when it comes to theatre, AU isn’t Tisch or Northwestern or Catholic.</p></li>
<li><p>Most colleges, including American, use merit aid to entice their top applicants–the ones who might very well go elsewhere if merit aid were not offered–to attend. If your stats are not well above the 75th percentile for enrolled freshmen, your prospects for merit aid are not very good.</p></li>
<li><p>AU’s reputation for providing sufficient aid to needy students is not very good. The University doesn’t promise to meet a student’s full need, and in a lot of cases, it does not.</p></li>
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<p>I wish you luck, but I frankly don’t hold out a lot of hope.</p>
<p>My D is a junior MT major at AU (double majoring in history). While she loves the program and has been able to carve out a specialty/niche that works for her - I would not recommend going into substantial debt to attend AU. Especially if you have better financial offers elsewhere. MT (no matter which school you attend) is not a high paying prospect and, if you are saddled with debt, you won’t be able to pursue your dreams after graduation. Talk to your parents about how much debt they are willing to take on, but please be realistic.</p>
<p>Dream new dreams. I am sure you will end up some place you really love, and which won’t sink your future. It’s bad enough waitressing and bartending to make ends meet while you look for your big break; but to be paying off debts at the same time? That’s a really bad dream.</p>
<p>We were in same boat last year - zero money even though several other schools had offered merit. The school’s response was to refer me to information about parent plus loans. In the end decided it was not worth debt for undergrad. My son has had a wonderful year at UMass Amherst and has never once regretted his decision.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help everyone. I’ll try emailing just to see even though I don’t think it’ll help. I’ll give my other schools another chance as well and hopefully be able to figure out what I would like to do from here.</p>
<p>The appeal has to be in by Friday. I was told that merit grants were unlikely to change, and that we had to have a significant change in our circumstances (which we will this next year) to win an appeal. That being said, I’m definitely appealing.</p>
<p>Good luck. But know that AU doesn’t promise to meet need, so even if your circumstances change, the aid may not change enough.</p>
<p>I think you’ve said elsewhere that your daughter has a higher merit scholarship offer at another school–compare the COA (tuition, room, board, and fees only) between the two. American is a very expensive school. You may find that the difference between the two is even more than the difference between the scholarship awards. Not to mention a difference in your overall costs if, for example, the other school is closer to you and you won’t need to fly your daughter back and forth. (Or yourself, if you ever want to visit her or see her do whatever it is she does–perform, play a sport, etc.)</p>
<p>I think we saved several thousand/year when my daughter chose the 45-minutes-from-home option instead of the school-you-have-to-fly-to option.</p>
<p>We did appeal and even met with the FA officer on admitted students’ day. She was actually quite encouraging and asked for some more documentation. However, first thing Monday morning (we spoke with her Friday afternoon), DD got an e-mail saying, “so sorry.” We never even got to submit the extra letters. </p>
<p>So yes, she is going elsewhere. She was really 50/50 between the two schools, but the visit had moved her over to wanting American more (especially when she found out that the School of Public Affairs was more selective than she’d thought). However, we got to the decision and basically had to tell her that we didn’t see an option, unless she spent all summer going for these outside scholarships. Next year, my husband will hopefully have a disability rating from the VA, which makes her eligible for more scholarships. If he’d gone a year ago (when he should have), or she had applied for several essay-type scholarships and tried herself to raise money, then our response would have been different. She won’t be UN happy with Seattle, too, especially after she found out her boyfriend finalized U of W.</p>