I attended an Orchestra concert at CIM yesterday and the President addressed the audience prior to the performance.
They are lowering tuition next year by 15% and plan to eventually decrease it by 30% as well as reduce the size of the student body and make it more selective. There was no increase in tuition for the 2017/2018 year from last year. He also stated that they did really well with fund raising last year.
Thought others on this board might be interested in this news.
I don’t remember his exact words but he said something to the effect that they want to refocus and make sure they are really serving the needs of all their students as well as increasing the selectivity. It should be interesting to see how it evolves.
I don’t know anything about CIM but lowering tuition and reducing the number of students = a more difficult financial position. I read the note that fund-raising went well last year, but I wonder about the long-term viability of this move. Time will tell!
CIM has always prided itself on having a balanced budget and generous donors, so I think they’ll be OK. Word is that the lower tuition will only apply to new students and those who already attend will continue to pay at the rate for this year, but that may change. As for reducing the size of the student body: the conservatory is small but occasionally a class (those of 2013 and 2014 especially) will be larger because more students than anticipated accepted offers.
^Not sure, could be though. I don’t remember his exact words but he said something to the effect that they had grown too much or student body was too big and they wanted to scale back and really focus on the mission and make sure all students there were well served.
It sounded like this is a well thought out plan that they will be implementing over the next few years and that they had worked on over the last year. I believe the new president has been there a year. He was the Exec. VP of the DSO before coming to CIM and helped reorganize things after the strike there.
Time will tell, but I think it will be interesting to see what takes shape there.
My son auditioned there recently. He said that all of the students were gathered for a meeting in the morning before auditions began and told that CIM is planning to reduce the size of the student body and increase diversity. It was a very discouraging start to the day (for a non-diverse student). Had he been aware of this new vision, he would have spent his time and travel budget on a more promising prospect.
@samz95- As I understand it, CIM is lowering tuition and planning to accept few students each year, and may even, eventually be hoping to go the way of Colburn and be tutiion-free. They are using special programs like the Sphinx Performance Academy as their commitment to increasing diversity in the arts.
@“Mezzo’sMama” Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, we were unaware of the new vision before audition day. I wish CIM had done more to communicate the downsizing with its prospective students. That seems only fair to me. On the bright side, it was a valuable lesson in taking nothing for granted when you’re investing so much time and expense for an audition.
@samz95- CIM has new admistration this year and the “vision” may be a bit further down the road than they’d like. It’s a very small school so they really can’t “downsize” too much and still maintain the number of students necessary to field performances. Some of the instrumental departments take just one or two kids each year, but I have an inkling that the numbers will be cut in just one or two areas.