Fin Aid & Merit Discussion for class of '27 Undergrad/'25 Grad

College Majors Music Major
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Many, not all kids, assume the need to go to college and stats bear out colleges’ worth. But one does need to dig deeper. A diesel mechanic, for example, can make mint.

Many states do have programs for low income or high performers.

Many schools do spend to support low income but I will not tell them how to spend their money.

Students should apply to affordable schools.

But plenty choose an unaffordable one instead due to prestige or their in state is beneath them. You haven’t seen that but it’s on half the cc posts :slight_smile:

Thx

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That’s kinda my point. What is an ‘affordable’ school? Especially by historical standards?

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Depends on the family.

For me, any school was affordable but I set a $50K limit.

For everyone who wants to go to Bates - maybe they could have applied to Allegheny or Kalamazoo or Depauw instead.

Any smart kid that wants to go to Michigan, how about Alabama or Mississippi State or WVU?

There’s a kid now looking at a BS/MD at USF, Ga Tech…oh and they got into UGA Honors…but it doesn’t check the ego box because they worked hard. But what if UGA was free??

There are ways - but people have to be adaptable and swallow their pride.

Just read a great post - student wants to go to Case Western. Not affordable. Applied to SUNY Albany - why? It was free app week. Went on a whim to admitted student day because he needs to find a school he can afford - and turns out - Albany - without the panache and pedigree of others on his list - really won him over. So that’s great.

And if it was a NY resident and out of budget, they have the TAP program…

Where there’s a will…

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@tsbna44 this thread is about financial aid and merit aid for MUSIC MAJORS. Are you aware of that?

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@macarthur ”affordable” is what your family determines they can afford. There is no other definition.

The thing here…music merit is awarded based on the strength of your kid’s audition relative to others on their instrument. It’s not an easy thing to get reevaluated. But sometimes programs do add some music merit aid for some students…without even being asked.

As noted above, take into account the added expenses of music, concert clothes, instrument maintenance and supplies, a GOOD instrument case, etc. At the same time consider money you no longer will be spending on lessons etc.

I would love to say that a music performance degree is cheap or free…but that’s not the case. And there are things that some musicians want…like proximity to a major metro area so they can see great music performances.

I think the whole college funding thing for musicians has a lot of moving parts that those who don’t have student musicians have NO way of understanding.

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186

I get all that.

Not sure if you’ve followed all the thread, but there was a bit of a separate discussion going on about the cost of college overall, esp the crazy increase in cost the last couple of decades. Nothing specific to music.

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Yes…college costs have increased for everyone…everywhere. A lot.

But the OP to this thread was specifically talking about these awards as they relate to music majors. Most music majors I know took a LOT of time to vet the schools to which they applied. The likelihood of them adding some random school because it was inexpensive was about zero.

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The music student is no different than anyone else.

You have to be able to afford what you want to consume.

There are more reputed schools in music like any other major - and you have to pick your list accurately. I assume that there can be extra expenses too - instruments, private lessons, and all - and I imagine those have to be factored in.

Yes, I’m aware of the thread but was commenting to a specific post.

Thank you

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Private lessons are included for most music performance majors.

I listed out the other expenses to be considered as well.

And as noted…affordable is what the family determines is…affordable.

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Yes - but as you know, many students choose a school or a school list based, not on affordability, but on prestige, name or other things and they say they want to worry about it later.

And on past threads people talk about some schools including private lessons and some not.

Anyway, the posts are above and no need to over analyze.

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I agree wholeheartedly that kids should apply to affordable schools. And of course every family has their own interpretation of what is affordable. However, i think the music performance application process presents special challenges when chasing the affordable options.

This is the challenge!

My music kid was our third (and final) to apply to college. While we would not qualify for aid, we had a modest budget for each kid. And the process of determining an accurate music school application list is incredibly challenging when one wants or needs the cost to stay low.
Basically you are applying to chase music talent money by making an educated guess as to where your kid will rank in a studio at a particular school. My kid who had participated in festivals, master classes, competitions had some idea where he might get funding, along with input from his teacher who understood some of the trends/potential need for his instrument in different conservatories. But even then, it is such a crap shoot.
Mine applied to 2 super reaches, what you might term prestige programs, and 4 other high level/solid programs where he was fairly confident of acceptance but again no idea how much merit money might be awarded.
Same kid, same audition repertoire and the results are all over the place. He ended up with a rejection at what he thought would be a safety, and a full tuition scholarship at a super reach program.
I applaud the parents on this forum who have navigated this process, especially when needing an affordable school. There are so many variables involved in allocating merit aid…really no way to accurately predict an outcome. You make your best guesses, hope for a great award and have a solid back up that fits the budget. But taking a shot at a prestige program is not necessarily a bad thing.
One of my kids was a swimmer, so I think of the music application process as similar to vying for a D1 scholarship on a swim team. Except for music, you don’t get to talk to the coach to see if they want you, you don’t know how many breaststrokers they need on the team and you don’t know the times of the other swimmers who want to get that same scholarship.

This is why you have posters on this thread who have acceptances at programs where their kid really wants to go but not enough money to make it work. Too many unknowns. It happens to almost everyone applying. Part of the process, in my opinion.

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I guess what I’m asking (or saying) - and I’m learning that different talents and instruments have strengths in different schools - but if you have an auto merit school that you know can be affordable (whether it be a Bama or Mississippi State or Mizzou or Truman State or wherever)…or just a downright inexpensive school such as W Carolina or UAH, there are schools out there.

They might not be the desired school - but that’s no different than the History major - with the added caveat of the musician may have a special talent or instrument they are following.

But there are schools out there.

No one may have U of Wyoming on their list- but it is very affordable compared to others.

So there are tradeoffs.

But I do think people tend to apply where they want - and hope it will work out instead of planning for all situations - regardless of major. We even read that all the time - I’m picking schools without regard to money. I’ll worry about that later. And then you get the list of all top schools.

Anyway, that’s my hypothesis, correct or otherwise.

btw - I love taking shots at the prestigious or dream school.

You only need one school that’s a gimme both admission and cost.

The rest should all be able to make budget. They may not - but it is possible. If you need $50K cost, for example, but are full pay - a Vandy is a great Hail Mary - they can get there. But Georgetown or an Ivy can’t.

So as long as you have that one slam dunk - then you can apply to Vandy - but never to Gtown.

Thanks

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@tsbna44 adding…there is no such thing as a safety school for a music performance major. Acceptance is based on the strength of your audition relative to the others who are doing auditions on the same instrument.

As mentioned above, there are some different challenges for musicians than for your engineering son or IR daughter.

Most musicians are looking for strength and a match for their applied teacher AND strong ensembles. Some want to be in metro areas where there is a major orchestra or other performances they can see. Many also want the opportunity to play in ensembles or do gigs outside of their college.

And, yes. Some of these things do come with a price tag.

These wonderful music parents on this forum are supporting their students…and I applaud them for doing everything they can to make the program of the kid’s choice possible. I don’t see one who doesn’t have an affordable choice. They are just pursuing some possible additional aid at some of the less affordable schools.

That’s what good parents do. And that’s what these parents are doing.

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Again the response was to a specific post someone made. Not the thread of the folks which is very educational.

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Indiana U gave 7k/yr music merit. Not much but at least something.

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So, speaking of a family whose kid applied to expensive schools…

I’ll give our rationale, fully recognizing that every family’s choices are different. He wanted to try. He really wanted to try for what he felt were the most exciting, amazing schools, which also happened to be very expensive ones. (That’s not always the case, but with his list it was.)

We heard that colleges gave music scholarships, and we let him go for it with a few astronomically priced schools just in case they took into consideration our need. He knew it was a very long shot that we’d get enough aid to cover a $90,000/year school, but it was just possible. Some people on these threads have.

He did the work–the prescreening materials alone for USC took 10 hours–and he got into all the schools he applied to, but for one waitlist. Then, he was offered modest scholarships compared to the costs, and we had to say we couldn’t do any of them. He went for it, and it didn’t pan out.

At the same time, he had a few schools on his list that were affordable, although as @thumper1 says, there is no slam dunk on a music school. It’s such an unknown what their needs are. He got into those, too. So, this will all be a success, because he’ll be at a great school!

We could have done it differently. Could have told him to take some of the highest priced ones off his list, if we’d known how rare it was to get significant support. Maybe added one or two lower priced ones. I felt stupid lots of times. But hey, he can look back and say he got into the amazing schools he tried for.

You’ve all been so supportive and hoping for the best for my kid. Unfortunately, we got our offer from USC, and the scholarship and aid they’re offering bring the COA down to $75,000. I feel like it should be a mistake, based on our numbers. I’m going to do a few things to try to pinpoint what made it come out that way, and I will give them a call.

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A standing ovation from me to @BeverlyWest and son for a job well done! You both tackled the challenges and unknowns with little prior experience and made it work with great outcomes. :clap::clap::clap:

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Thank you. That means a lot to me. Especially this morning when I’m feeling clueless and sad. And thank you for helping us. I truthfully could not have done this without everyone here.

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I agree…and actually to all of you folks. You navigated a challenging music admissions process. It’s definitely not the same as applying for other majors (exceptions being other performing arts…which all have similar challenges).

Your kids will do great and figure out what their futures will hold.

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Absolutely everyone! I was going to say that. Just because I wrote my little essay above, doesn’t mean we are special in this process any more than any other family. Our amazing kids are almost through this! Every parent here is impressive and awesome.

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