<p>My D is going into MT Musical theater and looking at a range of colleges from Ithaca to Montclair and we are budgeting right now costs so we can determine loan options and how much. Tuition,room and board is one thing and the basics of living, but we are not sure of what hidden or unknown costs might come into play that we should consider in a yearly budget? Are things like lessons included in most cases? Any input is always welcome.</p>
<p>Dad in Training</p>
<p>You’ll get more responses if you post on the musical theater forum. Go to discussion home then college majors then musical theater. I’m sure most people will tell you to minimize loans for a MT degree, but you’ll find lots of parents and students with good advice.</p>
<p>Black character shoes, but I’m guessing that she already owns those. An aspiring actor used to have to budget a chunk of money for head shots, but with digital cameras and places where you can print them yourself, not a really large expense anymore.</p>
<p>I agree that the MT forum is a better place to get info, but this might be “entertaining” for regular folks to read.</p>
<p>My D is in Acting, not MT, but I would say that yes, there are definitely different extra costs for her compared to her Bio major sister. She needed clothes - black outfits for Acting classes, specialized practice shoes, etc. I am willing to help her with makeup and hair costs, because for her, those are professional supplies. We also are willing to pay for voice lessons and probably would consider other extra classes if needed. We consider these academic expenses just like there would be in another program.</p>
<p>Very important, in our opinion, is making sure she can afford to go to the theatre. It is essential to an Actor’s training to see productions (and many schools require it) so we subsidize that to a certain extent, especially since she is so good at getting discounted tickets.</p>
<p>On the flip side, her cost for books and other academic supplies has been minimal. In the long run, she might actually be costing us less for incidentals than our science major. And because many arts programs are located in lower-ranked (i.e. often cheaper and with more merit aid) schools, her base cost is so much less that it’s virtually incomparable to her sister’s, so we’ve been happy to help her with her “theatre” financial needs.</p>
<p>One last item is that we are more inclined to travel to see our theatre kid, to see her in shows. Sometimes I think this seems a slight to our science kid (with both schools being a plane ride away, these are expensive trips), but I think most people realize that when someone is in the performing arts you do try to see them perform when you can. Again, though, for us the reduced cost of the education overall makes it easier to afford the increased travel.</p>
<p>Yet another issue in the arts vs. STEM journey is employment. D1 was able to work during the school year; D2 finds that difficult, because of rehearsal schedules. D1 also had very well-paying summer research jobs; D2 may be faced with forgoing pay in the summers in order to get valuable work experience with organizations that have no money. So far it works for our family to subsidize D2 in ways we did not with D1, because of the nature of her program and career needs, and because of the difference in COA. But these are tricky questions for any family to answer, and if D2’s school were expensive, we’d probably be making different choices.</p>