<p>Just to preface, I HAVE searched the previous threads for this info, and unless I'm looking in all the wrong places, I'm not finding much here on this topic.</p>
<p>We feel extremely fortunate to finally know that our D will be attending college for an MT BFA next fall. So, the next question is, "Can we afford to send her?!" Can anyone advise us about what criteria MT Scholarships are truly based on? I've heard some say that schools decide who to give them to solely based on talent (audition). Some have said, however, that they actually DO look at the student's financial need along with merit. And then, what about their GPA and test scores? Do they matter along with talent when it comes to merit awards? </p>
<p>Is there something we should be doing to help her odds to actually get a merit scholarship? Or is it just a crap shoot? I'm sure that as with everything else, it depends on the actual school. But the reality is setting in that even though she has a couple of wonderful schools to choose from at this point, we don't realistically have the ten-gazillion-dollars to put her through either of the programs without some help!</p>
<p>If you couldn't tell yet, this is our first child, and we've never had to figure out all this financial aid stuff before. If she doesn't get scholarships, will we seriously be footing the rest of the bill on our own? Help!</p>
<p>Hi Tiff.
I believe it really depends on the college/university. In my experience with my older D who is a sophomore in PoliSci and with my current MT daughter, private colleges <em>seem</em> to be more liberal with financial aid. My MT D has received talent awards at both her acceptances so far and the rest seemed to be determined by need. I think schools have different policies, but I think talent awards are usual "need-blind".
In the case of my older D, her private college scholarship awards were much larger than the ones she received from the public schools. That's just my experience.</p>
<p>I think that why you haven't been able to find alot on this subject, is every student and every school is so different. Some schools offer talent and academic, some one or the other, some none or very little in either case. I believe I have heard of schools that offer one or the other. Need based money will be evaluated by your FASFA score. Some schools have very aggressive need based programs. You probably need to call the financial aid department of the schools your D is interested in and ask them. I have found that the people in the departments are very helpfull and understand that you haven't done this before and will walk you through the options. As far as departamental money you would have to talk the that department to see if they have merit money at all. As far as whether or not your D will get any, you will just have to wait and see what they offer, it will be probably be based on her audition. Generally need and academic awards will come from the University, not the specific department.</p>
<p>We didn't have a gazillion dollars either and a big part of my S's search for schools was based on scholarship availablity. He did not apply to schools that had little or no funds available. Fortunately his first pick had a good scholarship program and he was very fortunate with his awards.</p>
<p>If you get on the phone you will probably have your questions answered in a couple of hours then you can go from there to make your decisions.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D in being admitted to such fine programs!</p>
<p>I can only speak for my own experience which is with OCU. The merit scholarship was solely based on the SAT/ACT score and the qualification is published on the web site. The talent scholarships, as far as I can tell, are based only on talent and how bad they want you. An extremely talented young man from our high school was offered a huge talent award, and his family is wealthy, so it was not based on need. Then there is the need-based grant or scholarships which will come through the financial aid department after you complete the FAFSA. Most of my D's aid through the financial aid department is loans which must be paid back. The remainder I am paying through a home equity line of credit. I have found it very hard to qualify for grants and other aid that does not have to be paid back. I am single (dad pays nothing) with two kids and make less than $40000 a year, so I guess you just have to be destitute to get grants.</p>
<p>tiff, if your D has already received her acceptances, did she not receive a financial aid package along with those letters? That should detail what is being offered in terms of scholarships, grants, loans, workstudy, etc., based on the information which you provided when you filed your FAFSA. Each school has their own way of determining who is offered a scholarship. At this point, there really isn't much that you can be doing now to help her get a scholarship, it's a little late for that! :)</p>
<p>alwaysamom-- The two schools she has been accepted to both send out their merit award letters around April 1st. So, the first few days after receiving the acceptances were full of pure celebration. The following days have been full of the money-reality-worries that go along with them! We have filled out all the FAFSA stuff as well, and were also surprised that it appears (as musicmom1215 said above) that you have to be destitute to qualify for grants. </p>
<p>I guess we just need to find some long-lost relative with money to burn to help put her through school! In the mean time, I will call the schools to ask a bit more. I've just hesitated to do so, worried that they would be irritated that we were calling to ask for that precious little scholarship money they apparantly have to give out.</p>
<p>Tiffw, my son is in the same boat. He has been accepted at schools which have been very generous financially, based both upon his talent and merit (he is a National Merit Finalist and is academically competitive). However, there is one school (so far) which accepted him a month ago and to date he has received no financial aid information from them. It is VERY tough to wait it out! VERY.</p>
<p>One of the schools that was generous to him (and made him an offer last summer) requires an answer from him by next Monday the 31st regarding whether he will attend. No pressure there...LOL. I'm assuming they ask for his decision by then so they can free up the $$$ for another student if he will not be attending. It's difficult to know what to do about that while he waits to hear about financial aid from other schools. Heck, he's still waiting to hear if he's IN from some of the schools (though he's got a big fat packet from a school sitting on the kitchen table today, hooray! Darned shame I am forbidden to open it though :( ).</p>