I have a question about the following schools in terms of if you consider them to have been generous in giving out merit/school based aid (not need based) …I know it all depends , but I also know some schools are known for generous scholarships, whether talent based or merit, etc…as I have previously read about some schools being this way… I am trying to eliminate some of these schools for auditioning as I know they are too expensive otherwise with skimpy aid…
Baldwin Wallace
Point Park
Otterbein
Temple
Emerson
Shenandoah
Wagner
Rider
I know BW admissions mentioned generous academic scholarships to my D (approx 1/2 tuition) based on her stats, well before the audition. D was/is a high achieving student - had a 30 on ACT when we met with admissions during tour, raised it higher by the time she was done. She had a 4.2 gpa and was in the top 20 of her class. A classmate of hers with similar stats (who ended up attending BW) got similar $$ after admitted
If you have very high academics, BW has generous merit scholarships that do “stack” with any talent money one might receive. Temple is similar (but their tuition is a fair amount higher than BW to start with). We never applied to Temple. We visited but the BFA program wasn’t yet in place and D didn’t think it was a great fit for her. We were on the BW waitlist forever and it was going to be very affordable if she got in, but it didn’t happen…Rider gave her a very generous academic scholarship as well, but the redirect to the BA was not what she wanted. She ended up having a great offer from Hartt (but they don’t do any academic scholarships, so it was only talent money) so that is where she landed The others, I have no clue since we didn’t look at any of them. Each individual school is so different, but when you get accepted, if finances are the only thing holding you back from a school, you should talk to them and see if they can help you out in some way. The worst they can do is say no.
My D was redirected to BA at BW and they did offer her essentially half tuition in academic scholarship. She is 9th in her class of 442. Too bad she didn’t get into the BFA- would have definitely been a contender!
Rider gives very competitive academic merit aid and it is all spelled out online. You can plug your gpa/test scores into their net price calculator and determine what your award would be. For my son from CA, there was also a small travel grant. New for next year is a full tuition scholarship for top students called the Trustees Scholarship. You can read all about these awards in the Financial Aid area under Admissions on the Rider website. I think the net price calculator is in the admissions area of the website. Contact the admissions office for additional info. They are very helpful.
Thank you and yes I’ve been doing the net price calculator but some seem not entirely accurate and up to date . On Riders website the calculator is only working till the like third page and then you can’t continue. Must be an online problem I’ll try again later. My D has a good GPA now & no SAT score yet till May, but not looking for that to be very high so it’s hard to judge the merit aid estimate. Plus I guess I should consider that she could get talent scholarship too so that would help.
Again, the admissions office staff – who are vested in attracting smart students like your D to Rider – will help you assess the merit aid possibilities if you cannot get the website / browser to cooperate. Kate Shields and her crew who handle admissions for the MT major are great and can help you drill down the merit aid possibilities via phone.
When S went through this 2 years ago, Shenandoah had a very generous merit scholarship for good grades/stats - but you had to be ADMITTED to the school/program by February 1 (perhaps this has changed??). His audition wasn’t until mid-Feb with acceptance to follow, so he - and others - had already missed that deadline. He DID receive a very generous talent scholarship that basically matched the lost merit scholarship and would have made the tuition “reasonable” - depending on your circumstances.
We did find out that the scholarship predictors on some school websites aren’t accurate because the school may use a recalculated GPA based only on core subjects. So all those As in theatre and PE don’t help everywhere.
Otterbein allows a student to stack merit and talent and they are renewable for all four years. Son’s scholarship and talent award brought the price to equal the price of our in-state.
I can speak to BW and Emerson - both offer excellent merit aid for high stats - 1/2 tuition roughly (and offers to be part of the honors college). Some students will be offered talent awards. The merit awards are renewable for all 4 years; the talent awards vary. S had a 34 on the ACT and a 4.0; school does not rank students so he didn’t have a class rank but the scores were enough for the highest merit awards at both BW and Emerson. When it came to decision time, we called the FA offices of each of my S’s admitted schools. We were not very successful in getting additional funds (we did get a few more $ but by “few” I mean $500 from one school :-() but I know others on this thread who had better success!
If your student is going to have competitive academic stats, I would encourage you to talk to the financial office at each school and find out what specific scholarship programs they have for which your student may be eligible. Most schools have some great scholarships for which you can apply, but often we as MTs don’t even start thinking about that until after we know whether or not we are accepted into the MT program. And Spring is typically too late to even be considered for most of these larger scholarships. Some have a separate application process that is usually due early on. So, if you have a strong student, do your research and make sure you know what to apply for and when to have the best chance at getting $$. For example at the University of Cincinnati (CCM) look at the Cincinnatus Scholarship: https://financialaid.uc.edu/sfao/cincinnatus.html Must apply by Dec. 1.
Some schools will use your application to the college as your application for all of their scholarships. But there may still be a deadline you must meet in order to be considered for scholarships that is generally earlier than the actual admissions deadline. Check with each school. And for many reasons, get those applications in as soon as possible.
Additionally, at some schools there may be some scholarships for which you may think you are not eligible for which you are. We had several schools encourage D to apply for some scholarships that she did not necessarily think she qualified for because of her FAFSA, or her ethnicity, or her grades, etc… But it may depend on the pool of students in any given year and the way in which the scholarships’ guidelines are interpreted. We were recommended to apply for some we never would have thought to apply to on our own. So again, a conversation with the school is the only way you could find out if you might be considered for some of these other possible scholarships.
Additionally, D was able to receive some local, regional and national one time outside scholarships for things she accomplished in high school. They took a lot of research and a lot of work to submit them all – but that money definitely helped. Some awarded the money directly to her which was helpful for things like books, computer, travel, etc… Others send the money directly to the school at which you matriculate. Be aware if you get outside scholarships that it could effect what the school is willing to award you. It just depends on the school.
Also, be very aware if the awards you are getting are renewable or not. There were schools we found that made the first year very affordable, but our costs would have gone up significantly in subsequent years. So be careful of that.
There are some schools that guarantee your tuition for 4 years. Check on whether your school has any sort of policies about tuition increases, and look at their history to see what sort of increase you might expect each year. If they are experiencing double digit increases frequently, it could really effect your ability to afford the school all four years.
It’s very difficult to match scholarships and artistic acceptance. My daughter had generous merit aid from a lot of schools but ended up not getting accepted to those programs. It really stinks when you have to wave bye bye to money on the table.
@theaterwork
D had a 3.3 and Rider gave her 18,000. That came with the whole acceptance, I think. She asked for more but they offered a school loan of 5,000.
We don’t qualify for federal aid.
D got generous academic scholarship at Temple - and we also don’t qualify for federal aid. Pace offered largest academic money, but artistically denied. She received presidential scholarship from U of Miami for academics - but that isn’t on your list and with OOS tuition being so high - It just brought the price down to equal most other schools
thsnks for all that info. I know it varies but I have seen a trend in schools that are generous and as long as they seem to be at least giving of something substantial , she may still be allowed to apply there lol. Ugh but $18000 for Rider isn’t enough…
I am trying to figure out what a good number is for merit at Shenandoah - D has great stats so we expected more than she got - Of course she is thankful for the BFA MT artistic acceptance but she got more other places for her academics -
@lake4 - It seems there’s always way more money for academics than for talent! TCU is a GREAT place for smart kids with top academics. My D personally knows two girls who got so much $ for academics from them, that by the time the talent $ was added, they had earned themselves a virtual full ride according to their parents!
I’ve also learned that “full rides” don’t always include “fees”, which can be substantial.
The others, I have no clue since we didn’t look at any of them. Each individual school is so different, but when you get accepted, if finances are the only thing holding you back from a school, you should talk to them and see if they can help you out in some way. The worst they can do is say no.