Hi all! I’m new here. I have been anxiously waiting for financial award decisions (assistantship, fellowship, tuition waiver, etc. ) from a few schools and would like to start this new thread for all to post whether you have received financial award offers, program admitted, and from which school (just like the admission thread). I’m limiting it to graduate programs because it’s kind of expected of grad students, especially doctorate students, to receive significant amount of awards - correct me if I’m wrong.
Or if anyone feels that it’s more appropriate to add a column on the admission thread, that’d be awesome, too. Thank you all!
For Master’s candidates from what I’ve seen, the scholarships, assistantships, etc seem to be specific to your skill set and what the school needs. Interestingly, son did receive an email today from a prof recommending that he put his name in for an endowed position in an ensemble on campus to pay for grad school. He wasn’t expecting any aid but is intrigued by the offer plus an offer for another ensemble.
So does anyone know how likely it is for a MM piano student to receive a partial/full tuition waiver plus assistantship stipend, or is that totally not going to happen? I haven’t heard about financial aid yet for the ones I’m accepted to, but hoping that it’ll be decent!
What used to be common is no longer the norm and things vary widely from school to school also. A first year MM student may get some scholarship or merit $$ but an “assistantship stipend” isn’t likely to appear. Not many schools use graduate students to teach lessons any more, even second year grads- those jobs go to the DMA candidates. Once you’re in the program, you might find that there are assistantships available for a very few of the second year students, specific to the needs of the program, rather what Momofbassist was saying. My D had a decent merit award for her first year of grad school and landed the TA position of Opera Administrator (there were 3 TA jobs available in total, I believe) for her second year.It took care of a goodly portion of her tuition and pays her a stipend, but during certain times, she’s working 50 hour week and keeping up her own end of lessons, recital prep, rehearsals, etc. Nothing comes without a cost!
Agree with Mezzo’s assessment. In my opinion, American music programs don’t have the large grant funding or other national support that enables one to have a “free ride”. “Free ride” in the music world often refers to free tuition and nothing more. S has, as a first year MM performance major, a full tuition scholarship, assistantship that basically only pays for his food and phone and no health insurance provided. His best offer was 9K assistantship, tuition waiver and health insurance at a less competitive program. The programs with the more “prestige” offered him 1/2 to 3/4 tuition scholarship and no health insurance or paid assistantship. He’s now looking at doctoral programs and the funding is better ; 12-15 stipend with health insurance and tuition waiver for DMA, up to 25K for PhD in musicology, history or some composition programs. He does earn extra money tuning pianos, playing in regional orchestras and other short term gigs.So far, he has avoided loans with the extra work, a frugal lifestyle and help from parents. Contrast this to D who is first year neuroscience. She was flown to all interviews, housed in hotels and fed at the expense of the colleges. All of her programs provided between 30-32K for the assistantship, health insurance, tuition waivers and moving expenses. Large federal grants fund the labs.
If I got a tuition waiver/full scholarship for that, but still had to pay food, rent, etc. that would be great, my parents will help with food and rent! It’s mainly just the tuition. My phone is on my parents plan, my parents pay my car insurance and gas always, and I can still be on their medical insurance through my MM program time. Where does your son attend for the MM?
@iluvpiano- Your best bet is to talk to teachers at the schools you are interested in. Just because one student has been given a large grant at “School A” does not mean another student will be; it’s very individual. You’re very fortunate that your parents help out as much as they do. Full time employment during the summer and a part time job during the school year should, when coupled with the amount of assistance that you get from your parents, put you in a much better position than many of your peers.
S’s school has many outstanding MM pianists who are paying full fee so his program. These students do not have assistantship opportunities (about a third of the piano MM are internationals from China and Korea and are funded by family). The scholarships run about 1/4-2/3 tuition coverage for the average MM student; there are no assistantships typically available or they are bundled into the tuition- you work 15 hours a week for 7-10K reduction in tuition-never receive any money from the work. There is very little gig work available for pianists-it usually goes to the top 2-3 students (who come from conservatories and have been playing since birth, it seems). Some are able to give piano lessons to children in the community by advertising on Craigslist or other venue; this is rare and not a big source of $$. Quite a few earn $$ as SAT prep tutors and math/science tutors in the community. If you had a great SAT or took sufficient math and science in college that is another option.
Then there is table waiting. S waits tables one or two evenings a week in addition to the occasional gigs and off campus piano tuning work (which is also what his assistantship is-he learned how to tune when he was in high school and did some as an undergrad so he was a natural for the assistantship; he is one of the rare students that is actually paid for his assistantship work). Several of S’s music friends wait tables as well. Music grad school is not for the faint of heart as most parents are not footing the bill. The monies are limited and one quickly becomes aware of how many outstanding musicians there are; there may be 20 people showing up for an audition for a single sub slot in a regional orchestra 40 miles away from campus. S has many friends who are over 30K in debt with student loans that they used for instrument upgrades or simply to pay rent. All work hard. As Mezzo said, you are fortunate to have the help from your family.
Thank you all for the insight! I have yet to hear about assistantships or other kinds of financial awards from any of the schools I’ve been accepted yet (Btw, I applied to DMA performance). However, my friends who applied to MM have heard such information from most schools already. For DMA, do they usually send the initial offer out by April 1? This is driving me insane because without it, the acceptance doesn’t mean much to me.
Cincinnati and Bowling Green are the only two I’m sure of. The rest I can’t remember exactly - perhaps including Ohio State and UMKC, but I can’t be certain. They received assistantships at these places. I’m not sure about plain tuition waivers.
Alright thanks. I didn’t apply to any of those 4. Just hoping one of them gives me a good offer! I don’t wanna take a bunch of loans for an MM, since I have no clue what the situation will be financially when I apply for a DMA and don’t know if my parents will still help me with other non-tuition things still then.
@iluvpiano- You’re going to have to get a job and take out loans for your MM, which should be manageable since your parents are giving you so much financial help as it is.Don’t sweat the DMA; that’s where you’re going to get the funding (NOT at the masters level any more). Honestly, you can get a summer job, which you should have applied for already if you want a good one (!) and a job- or two- while you are getting your next degree. When you get your acceptances, the schools should include all of the information about the loans available to you along with the merit aid they award.
I am not as positive as others on the advisability of taking on debt for a degree in the current market conditions. There are a lot of things to consider before you choose your school. Ask about smaller grants or work opportunities through your school… I don’t think any of D’s grants or scholarships were over 3,000. But she was able to cobble enough of them together to make a serious dent. And if you continuously ask, you will probably be the first one they think of when someone calls with a performance opportunity. During grad school D was paid to perform at everything imaginable— medical conventions, swanky parties, faculty funerals, professional sports(national anthem), private music lessons and finally she taught summer extension classes in music. During the school year she also taught voice for MT students at another college and worked as a church section leader. Virtually all of these work opportunities came through her school. And everyone of her jobs was flexible enough not to get in the way of opera rehearsals.
She even got the university to pay for her travel to perform in Europe one summer.(since it was for a prestigious scholarly program)
I would also advise against getting a loan. If your parents are affluent enough and are willing to support you for your MM, there’s really no reason to get yourself into debt before you even acquire a real job. Avoid debt at all cost!
I agree about not going into debt. S turned down opportunities at a lot of well-ranked conservatories and colleges for his MM because they only offered partial tuition scholarships. Also be careful with offers of scholarships at state universities that are not your home state. If you are not a resident of the state, in many cases you pay out of state tuition. A 20K scholarship with a 40K out of state tuition will leave you with 20K of tuition to pay for. S has several friends that got into great programs but couldn’t afford to go to them. Several used the past year to work and save for grad school living expenses.
They received assistantships at these places. I’m not sure about plain tuition waivers.