<p>Hi, I'm a student from Canada (New Brunswick) and I got acxpeted to the music business program at Steinhardt. I was really happy at first, but now I'm starting to worry. I'm an international student, so I received 0 financial aid. I have to pay full tuition, which is like 60k a year. By the time I graduate, even if my parents help I'll be in debt at least 100k and at most 200k. </p>
<p>1) Is the Music Business program really worth all this money? I mean, is it a "legitimate degree"?
2) How much should I expect to make after graduation? Would this number be much higher if I go to grad school? (And potentially put myself in more debt?)
3) NYC is hella expensive... after graduation, can I expect to stay in the village or a good neighborhood, or will I be broke and have to live off Manhattan?
4) What kind of career opportunities will be presented to me?</p>
<p>These are the main questions I have... Please help me!! Ive been so worried lately! I feel like after 4 years of college glamor new York will reveal its true side and my music business degree would not be worth the 200k in debt!!!</p>
<p>How will you be able to borrow 100 to 200k? That is not a reasonable amount to owe. After you get out of school you can only expect to make a small amount at an agency until you have proven yourself over years. That business requires networking and connections as far as I know. </p>
<p>You better do some homework about reasonable expectations of finding a job. Also, how will you be able to get a work visa?</p>
<p>That’s a relative question along with is any degree worth that level of cost? Most people in the U.S. don’t go to such colleges without financial aid and will go to lower cost state schools out of necessity. The exceptions are for those with wealthy parents, and a few foolish people who managed to get the loans.</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with this specialized course of study or the job results for graduates. The school should be providing some info on that. Seems like the program includes guaranteed internships. They say 40% of students get job placement from these, but there is no salary data.</p>
<p>This is the kind of business that can pay off in the long run for those who are good at what they do and successful at making connections and a network. I suspect that until you make it you will struggle with low paying jobs. </p>
<p>I hope you get more insight from someone who has worked in this area. I just know of people who have gone the talent agency/mgmt route and it is very competitive and low paying to start, while they weed people out.</p>
<p>I just looked up average NYU salaries, and apparently the starting salary for music business majors is 37k… That seems ridiculously low for a 200k+ education. I’m so scared now… I move into the school in 2 days and I don’t see that 37k going up any time soon… How long would it take to get that 37k up to a reasonable amount??</p>
<p>The music industry is full of very lowly paid people. It doesn’t “go up”. It’s dependent on the individual person’s luck to get a hit. For every grammy award winner, there’s a gazillion starving musicians.</p>
<p>This field is like acting…most don’t make it big. A tiny number do. </p>
<p>This debt is ridiculous. Go to school in your country for a reasonable price.</p>
<p>You mean you already committed to NYU and are starting on Monday ? How much are your parents paying ? how much do you have in loans yourfirst semester?
200,000 in debt in crazy. It will hobble for years and years.
Right now what you can do is look into Belmont’s program. See if you could transfer for Spring. they’re very respected in the industry and would likely offer you merit aid if you have the stats for NyU. Don’t plan to do all 4 years at such a cost.</p>
<p>Every year some students do not show up for the first day of class. Pick up the phone. Call NYU. Find out how to withdraw from this semester now. Even if you lose a couple of deposits, that will be much less money gone than $60,000.</p>
<p>Take a semester (or whole year) off, and find some more affordable options.</p>
<p>If you have $200k in debt, you won’t get to experience any of that “college glamour new York”. Go to one of your excellent Canadian options and if you’re so desperate to get out of “terrible” cities like Vancouver, Montreal, or Toronto, which clearly offer none of the same offerings as NYC, transfer to one of the much less expensive CUNY schools for your last two years.</p>
<p>I think that a lot of these NYU-debt-laden kids forget that the places that they’ll likely have to live to try to make it in their fields are also some of the priciest cities around. When they graduate they’ll be lowly paid and facing high rents. How will they even make a dent in those debts? </p>
<p>Who is co-signing your loans? Are they aware that you won’t likely be able to pay those loans back and THEY’LL get stuck with them? (I know…you intend to pay those loans back, but be realistic. Every year we read about students with even lower debts who can’t pay them back.) </p>
<p>Have you “done the math” to see what the monthly payments would be? At least $2000 a month! For 10 years or more! If you somehow “luck out” and are making $40k your first year (doubtful!!), then $24k would go to loans. Your taxes would be based on that $40k income, so you’d have about $10k per year to live on. Crazy!</p>
<p>No way!!! My dad is an engineer and I am always getting told by them about the dangers of student loans. Apparently, my parents took out only about $40K in loans between the two of them. But, due to interest, they have been paying for 20 years now, and still owe over $90K. Their payments most years have been lower than the interest, because they could not afford more. </p>
<p>And music almost never makes more than engineering.</p>
<p>I just talked to my parents, and I will most likely transfer to a CUNY college; however, I’d still like to pursue a degree in music business or some sort of equivalent. So you guys are telling me that the salary earned from a music business degree will not allow me to live in Manhattan?</p>
<p>*I will most likely transfer to a CUNY college; *</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>What the heck? So, you’re going to borrow $25k+ for one semester at NYU and then transfer to a CUNY? That’s nuts, too. Forget about NYU. Don’t go. Apply to the CUNY and START there.</p>
<p>My friend’s son just graduated from NYU with a music business degree ( forgot the exact name of the degree, but it is in the music industry). He is working as a contractor ( not an employee) for a music company making $14.00 an hour with no benefits and he has loans to pay back.</p>
<p>As mentioned earlier a good school for music business is Belmont in Nashville. With your stats view may even offer financial aid . Now if your goal is solely to study in NYC it’s different and transfering to a cheaper school is the best solution.</p>
<p>So what are some alternatives to nyu to work in the music industry? I heard that there are many opportunities in NYC for breaking into the music business (although the starting salary seems to be low at 40k in 2013)</p>