We have a very long list and are thinking the best way to narrow it is by which schools don’t give merit aid. I know CCPA is one. We’ve heard mixed information about both NYU and BU. Anyone know about Mason Gross and Michigan?
And about Ithaca, Syracuse or CCM?
You can Google the Common Data Set for each college. There is a line in the financial section about non-athletic scholarship aid (don’t recall the exact name of the line). You can tell the average amount and how many students (out of the entire student body) got it. The school websites also probably give some information.
CCPA gives talent scholarships. My son is a freshman MT there now. He was able to negotiate their original offer to 3 times more. So don’t count out CCPA:)
My D was accepted to BU, NYU, and Syracuse. Her best merit aide came from Syracuse- her worst from Boston (we would have been full pay there.).
Ithaca does not offer many hefty scholarships. Not to say that they don’t offer any. Just that $15-20,000 off of a nearly $60,000 bill is still more expensive than comparable schools.
CCPA gave me the most most merit aid out of any school. CCM gave me nothing. I have friends who got a lot of $ from Syracuse…not too sure about Ithaca!
S got into BU and would have been full pay. I understand Michigan is also stingy with out-of-staters. Best merit for both S and D came from Pace and Emerson. We called CCPA when D was making her decisions. They came up a bit but not enough to tip the balance.
@type1mom : My BFA theatre design D at Mason Gross received a substantial merit scholarship. I have heard that there is talent money for actors, but I’m not sure how much. We are out of state, so tuition is obviously more for us than if we were in NJ, but it’s about $28K per annum instead of $60!
You do have to separate talent scholarships from academic merit scholarships. Speaking only about academic merit, and only about the places to which my child applied and was accepted:
Pace - yes - very good merit scholarship
Marymount Manhattan - yes - also very good merit scholarship
NYU - no merit
Wagner - yes - good scholarship
When we went on the NYU tour this summer it was mentioned by staff multiple times that they don’t give merit aid. Michigan does not generally give aid to out of state students. Can’t speak for the other programs on your list.
Merit aid is used to attract good students. Why would a top state school give major merit aid to OOS students?
I’ve found some of the net price calculators are helpful in displaying the aid based on gpa/test scores. I don’t know if it will be in the ballpark of reality when acceptances arrive, but it has helped me in guiding son to create a school assortment with most of the schools in financial range.
I agree, @DoinResearch. We took BU off the list because the Net Price Calculator said that D would get ZERO money from them, and full price would be $60,000 per year. (BU has high academic standards for admission, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t be impressed enough by D’s grades and test scores to give her merit aid. But it’s good to know that upfront!)
@actorparent1 It took way too long for me to get real about our finances. I was looking at the “ranges” displayed in college data (and let’s face it, it seemed like monopoly money), and then I calculated the estimated family contribution (EFC) and started using Net Price Calculators. Acting Kid #1 is a Sr., Kid 2 is a junior, and when kid 2 decided a career that requires 8 years of schooling… hubby has a 1 year between that graduation and retirement. Reality set in, and we made a plan. After spending what seemed way too much time fishing for merit aid based on others experience, I realize that the only way to get a sense with my kids’ stats was net price calculators. There’s talent $, but there’s no way to forecast that amount, so that’s just icing on the cake for us. I think I also made the mistake of just thinking about the first year and getting in, instead of looking at all the years of both kids and retirement.
I’ve found that the net price calculators really vary on the different websites depending on what information they request. I would’ve expected very little from BU, but unlike some schools like Michigan, BU asks for number of siblings, ages, etc. Since my D is the oldest of 6 siblings, and we’ll have four kids in college at the same time, BU’s aid is much greater than others even though I’ve heard they don’t give much.
@type1mom I’ve been working on the assumption that the more detailed the net price calculator, the better the results. Our state schools have NPC that are bare bones, so I expect more unpredictability.
You can call the school FA offices and talk to them. They may be able to give more info. But you need options on the table you KNOW you can afford and your kid is likely to get into.