D received large merit aid from Wright State, Texas State, Ithaca, and Pace. I’m guessing she would’ve also received a big aid package from Otterbein had she stayed on the wait list and been admitted. She has strong grades and ACT scores. Ithaca was the biggest surprise. Their aid package covered nearly half the cost of attendance, just based on academics.
@sleepymom
Were you talking about U of Miami and OOS tuition? Miami is private. Same price for everyone.
Maybe I misunderstood.
Echoing @entertainersmom’s comment, we had a similar experience with Otterbein, which has a very transparent merit system (for academic merit) and stacks a talent award (plus any needs-based aid) as well. Their tuition is reasonable to begin with, and with the merit and talent grants, we were able to cover the costs so that my son can graduate debt-free.
Oh-sorry! Didn’t know that @sbc - I just assumed a 64,000 price tag was due to oos… My bad! D decided not to attend even with the pres. Scholarship. She hates the heat- I was stunned when she decided to audition there. I love the heat and wish she would further entertain it.
The key to generosity in dollars is good grades and test scores. At most schools, talent money is a smaller piece of the puzzle and some give no talent money. So if you want the school to be generous, get the grades. Too many prospective MTs decide that they are artists and grades aren’t important. THEY ARE!
@lake4 - did your D receive an Academic Scholarship or Conservatory Scholarship from Shenandoah? As I said in previous post, my S was not accepted until after the February 1 deadline for the Academic scholarship. He did receive the max Conservatory Scholarship - which replaces the Academic Scholarship. I do not believe they “stack” merit and talent. The max Conservatory Scholarship made the cost of attendance very reasonable (for us), but could not compete with his current school.
@mom4bwayboy she received a combination of academic and conservatory half of max conservatory - so disappointed - hoping the fin aid letter includes a grant - but haven’t seen totals. She has HS tech and musical this week so will deal with it next week. Some of her other schools gave her more than twice as much.
Wagner offered my daughter a huge scholarship.
Yea! @Calliene That is great news. My junior D will be there this summer for the Summer Music Theatre Institute and she is soooooo excited. That is one of her top school choices.
From our admissions team at SU:
“Conservatory Awards at Shenandoah are made based upon consideration of multiple factors, including the student’s academic merit, the results of their audition/interview, and the needs of the Conservatory/program. Shenandoah does not award “academic” and “talent” awards separately . . . it is a single, COMBINED award. Conservatory Awards are renewable for four years, provided the student remains in good standing within their program. A student may receive notification of their Conservatory Award before their entire Financial Aid package is mailed, and students are encouraged to wait until their full aid package is received, in order to evaluate their entire award.”
Thanks for the clarification @VoiceTeacher. We wondered about his during S’s years but assumed that since his acceptance did not come until after Feb 1, he was ineligible for the academic scholarship. The wording on the admissions webpage is slightly different, saying that the conservatory scholarship “replaces” the academic. Based on your post, we can then assume that no Shenandoah Conservatory accepted student would get an “academic” scholarship based solely on grades/stats?
Concerning the award from Shenandoah, we’ve yet to calculate such factors as additional fees for lessons at some of the other universities, laptop included in tuition, study abroad opportunities, cost of living off campus when older, need for a car?, travel expenses, etc. Not to mention Shenandoah sticker price more reasonable than some. So while initially I hoped and thought that as a high academic student she would get a higher offer, I am understanding it in light of the conservatory - its not like she’s filling a critical need in the symphony as a french horn player - maybe as a female MT this is a fabulous offer - the reason for my original question is weighing all these things! And she loves everyone she met there and she wants it to be her perfect fit
@mom4bwayboy You are referring to the Presidential scholarship that has the Feb 1 deadline. We made the deadline and didn’t get the scholarship so that was the initial disappointment that she had to accept.
@lake4 You are correct about the Feb. 1st deadline for the Presidential scholarship. They keep us completely separate from financial aid, so I have no idea what actually goes on in the awarding process. I don’t even know what the average, minimum, or maximum awards are. A few years ago the university decided that trying to separate out which money was talent vs. academic was too confusing so they went to a combined award formula that combines academic information, scores from the audition, etc. I’m sorry I can’t offer more insight.