@akapiratequeen - I have been logged off for a while, but was drawn back by an email from a PM, so I thought I would catch up, re post #14. Yes, he is happy. Most students would be happy most places that they selected in general, I suppose. Some of the neat things that come to mind in S’ case. They do have some kind of on-site musician doctor team and an on-site luthier that makes keeping everything in shape very easy. They detected a slight dislocation in a rib due to muscle development imbalance and put it back in place and gave exercises to keep it from being an issue. There is quite a system there. They have a dental office on campus as well.
The depth of the peer pool is pretty good. He can find many people in his spectrum with ease. It is a very walk-able campus with heavy vegan support. There is some gigging locally (Denton) and some in Dallas. There is not too much hand-holding there, so it pays to reach out. The costs have been moderate, as expected. The academics are adequate for what S wants.
S is currently preparing to apply for summer work. It seems that “cruise ships” are his most frequently spoken idea. Sure enough, you can find peers who have done those before. He is almost half-way through college now, and thoughts of what comes afterwards are surfacing.
I’m curious about this…my son received $25,000 bell tower at Furman and then only $5,000 music composition scholarship. While it’s great we still have $27,000 left to cover per year. ?
@Themomof4 , my S18 had a similar experience applying to Furman last year, but the opposite: he received $5,000 Bell Tower and $30,000 music. He had super high academic stats so I asked the admissions contact about it and found that the academic merit award was lessened bc they knew he was getting a large music award. Same could have a happened in your son’s case: music may have known he was getting a large academic award so did not feel the need to give him much for music. Or maybe they just do not have a high need for your son’s instrument this year. Who knows? But if I were you and Furman is high on your son’s list, I would have your son contact the music teacher your son met with or the music admissions office and lay out his other offers and see if they can increase his music scholarship.
And, I’m sure @vistajay is assuming this in his response: you should wait until all offers are received…and negotiate in late March/early April. There may be more flexibility later in the process as schools get a sense of yield.
But yes, I think your situation is typical. My D’s UG awards were a similar split to yours … with much less for music … which at first surprised us (she had an auto-academic scholarship). However, along the way, we figured out that the auto-academic scholarship had an impact on the amount of the music scholarship given. Two years after my D entered that school, they took away the auto-academic for music students and put everything under the music school. The rumor was that it allowed the music school to be more generous with “their” scholarships…but I think it was the same dollars sloshing around in the back office since they indicated that academics would be taken into consideration.
I could be wrong in particular cases but to YOU it’s a reflection of “true” skills/talent, to the school it’s a mix of dollars that can be given out. But the good news is…maybe you can get a bit more music merit…it will most likely depend on yield and need (more than sheer talent) at that point.
And based on my limited knowledge (with many opinions regardless), a price tag under $30K (assuming for all) is not bad…I bet they’ll be a lot bx $30K and $35K (with a few unicorns making you mad). All speculation but my 2 cents.