<p>I agree with other posters - dance shoes and clothes, audition clothes, headshots, private lessons, keyboard, downloading music, shows - all expenses we expected but really added up over 4 years. The biggest expense we didn’t plan on was having to pay the “over credit” tuition so D could graduate in 4 years. She entered college with 23 accepted AP credits, took 1-2 classes in summer school all three summers and STILL had to carry many extra credits for the last five quarters in order to graduate in four years. Her BFA requirements were insane! Triple threat is like a triple major!</p>
<p>For our son, we are planning on paying for all books, clothes, travel, Cell phone, etc., and then give him a weekly allowance of $100 per month, which must cover his entertainment, incidentals, etc. We went through this experience with him before, as he is changing majors and transferring schools. This worked well, although when he first started, he wasn’t managing his money well the first month. He then got the hang of it. My wife also followed his credit card to make sure he developed good habits and paid off the balance every month.</p>
<p>Saratoga - thx for your post. Just to make sure I understand you will your son receive $100 or $400 each month in spending money?</p>
I am bumping this old thread- it’s really interesting and points out a lot of things we didn’t necessarily consider beforehand. I will say that D’s food expenses were higher than anticipated b/c her NYU studio is a 20 min walk from the nearest dining hall (which is actually in her dorm) so the kids tend to eat in nearby quick service places on studio days. Add that to the fact that she rarely gets up in time to get to the dining hall for breakfast (eats a cliff bar or grabs a bagel on the way to class) and she really only uses the dining hall for dinners during the week. We have cut back her mealplan, so it evens out a bit- but it still creates out of pocket expenses.
toowonderful, that was exactly how it was when my D was a freshman at NYU. By second semester, we cut back the meal plan. By the start of sophomore year, she gave up the meal plan entirely and we gave her the same sum of money that the meal plan costs each month to buy her own food. Keep in mind that while your D makes it to the dining hall for dinners now, just wait until she is cast in shows and has evening rehearsals. Making it to the cafeteria for dinner will be underutilized!
One expense that might not be in every program - but the BM at BW requires participation in choir, and so D had to purchase a choir dress plus hemming, and dry cleaning. She also has to pay her accompanist in voice lessons - but the lessons themselves are covered in tuition. Her books expenses have not been terribly high, and at least this semester - books she bought last semester for Music Theory and Piano are both carrying over into this semester as well.
You also might want to think about extra costs for summer activities. Some internships are paid and offer housing. Others don’t. We ended up paying a couple thousand more in rent for last summer, so that the S could do a lightly paid internship. (He worked, too. We’re not pushovers.)
FOOD (oh my yes!), dance shoes and accompanists. My S was cast in a show early in his first semester so was running from 7 am until after 10 pm most nights. He ended up barely using his food plan and eating out of the vending machines and his mini-fridge. I ended up putting about twice the cash into his account than I had anticipated. Also, the show’s choreographer had very specific (translation – expensive) requirements for footwear so, on top of purchasing all new dance shoes for classes, we needed to pay for a specific shoe for the performance. He has been cast this semester but does not start rehearsals until the end of February. Hopefully, that saves my wallet some pain. He is starting to look for summer employment. The thought of having to subsidize his summer while paying for child #2 to attend a pre-college program is making me feel like I need to take on a second job!
I just want to mention that the expense of subsidizing a kid’s summer plan is optional. For those who want to or can, that’s great. It is not a necessity, however. I have had two kids go all through college (and one also through grad school) and they knew that if they opted to work away from home in the summers (and they did EVERY summer), their jobs could not cost money. They had to earn enough to at least break even, if not earn money. We did not subsidize their summers. Nevertheless, both girls worked every summer in their chosen fields and built their resumes. Some jobs came with housing and some didn’t. Some didn’t pay much and so on. But none cost us money. That was not an option for our kids’ summers once they graduated high school. So, I would put this “expense” in the optional category.
That’s true. It’s optional, but something to think about. Like I said, my S worked, too, almost full-time in addition to the internship, but he couldn’t have done it on his own. (And it was worth it, I think, in terms of contacts and experience.)
I totally understand, jkellynh! Just trying to mention to those who haven’t had kids in college yet that this is an optional expense. Definitely not judging anyone who opts to do this! It just wasn’t an option for my kids. I wanted to point out that it is possible to get work in your field and not have to spend money to do so.
Freshman BFA-er here. A checklist from my experiences:
- Transportation/Parking. Plane tickets if you live far away, a parking pass and gas if your kid drives to school.
- Summer auditions - i.e. SETC, NETC, IOTs, etc. Gas/rental car/plane, hotel room, registration fees, and food add up.
- Clothes: TONS of movement/dance clothes and a couple of good business casual outfits for alumni events and things of that sort. (Not joking - I had four or five biz cas events my first semester alone.)
- Private voice runs around $1,000/semester generally.
- Look out for extra tuition fees for the conservatory, department, or division. They’re not listed explicitly, but last year I had a few schools that had hidden fees for arts majors. At most, they ran about $2,000.
- Master classes. Most within the department are free, but sometimes they’ll be a class outside of the school or department that’ll run $20-50 a pop.
I think a lot depends on the culture of the school as well. A lot of schools place high value on Lulu Lemon, LaDucas, and Starbucks, which add up FAST.
At some schools, private voice lessons are included in tuition. That’s how it was for my kid at NYU.
Keep in mind that things like Starbucks and Lululemon are optional. ;
Had to pay for accompanists for voice lessons, but other than a studio fee, private voice lessons are free at NYU–even for non-majors. But the cost of the accompanist was a surprise for most students.
@uskookfish, I think the use of the word “free” is adorable. Fairly sure one pays enough in tuition to drive a new BMW every year for that “free” private voice lesson.
Just out of curiosity, how much does NYU tack on per week to pay accompanist? (I suppose if you’re already paying 70K plus, whats another five hundred bucks right?)
tramsmom, uskoolfish posted about accompanist fees for her D while at NYU/Steinhardt. Just want to share with you that there is no such fee for Tisch students. We never paid one. The voice teacher played piano. Voice lessons were included in the cost of tuition and were taken for credit.
Ahha! Thanks! One of the Tisch Perks.
Ahh… didn’t know that. Older D, the VP major at Steinhardt, was in one studio for 4 years. Her voice teacher could adequately play piano, but an accompanist was recommended. We generally paid $20/ lesson. Younger D (the art major) needed an accompanist with one of her voice teachers. This past semester it was optional. You paid the accompanist directly and were responsible for selecting/ scheduling them–although a list was provided with suggestions by the department. Voice lessons were part of tuition and were taken for credit for both D’s, but there was an additional fee charged for private voice lessons of $105. (We pay an additional $350 fee for art studio/ semester for art major/ singing D.)
Lots of kids were getting pretty good financial aid or merit packages when older D was there, so the additional $ was a surprise to them. I think Tisch’s tuition is higher than Steinhardt’s so it is probably all the same in the end.
Full disclosure… the private voice lessons at Tisch include an accompanist. 3 years in daughter has yet to have a private voice teacher at the piano. Two in the room. Also full discloser, there is this “undergrad services and registration fee” in Tisch that is currently $1,212/semester right off of my bill. Maybe the accompanist fees are buried in there somewhere. Not sure if Steinhardt has such a thing but yes, the tuition in Steinhardt is less than at Tisch. I think my daughter’s VERY AMAZING voice teacher is from Steinhardt. Big fan.