Oklahoma City University Music Education, Wheres the money?

Parents Forum
1

<p>My daughter has auditioned and been accepted to the Wanda Bass School at Oklahoma City University. We began the process enthusiastically last spring when we visited the school and received information on incoming freshman scholarship opportunities. At that time my daughter qualified for $7k per year renewable for 8 semester. By the time it was time to audition this year it was down to $3K. We still were feeling encouraged because during our visit to the school in November for audition the students we met encouraged us that the school provided very generous non-need based scholarships and that they received enough to cover their tuition. Well the audition is finished and the admission academic scholarships have been assigned and so far we only have received $9k in scholarships for each year. This leaves a shortfall of about $23K. We have yet to complete the FAFSA and the schools financial aid process(however, we will not qualify for needs based aid). My daughter is very committed to going to OCU, and my husband and I think that the fit would be perfect for her however, we just are stressing out about how to pay for it. Our daughter is committed to music education and had a fantastic interview with Professor Willoughby. My questions are to those of you who have experience with OCU:</p>

<ol>
<li> Should we or my daughters Honors program Counselor contact the school? Would it be of the most benefit to contact financial aid or contact Professor Willoughby directly to see if she could fight for her?</li>
<li> Can we expect any further aid through the financial aid process? Are there other scholarships offered at OCU that she may be given the option of applying for?</li>
<li> Does OCU consider reallocation scholarship money in May if some is still left on the table?</li>
<li> Is this a generous offer? Maybe we do not have a very good perspective on what generous is and what reasonable expectations for parents to be able to pay for college.<br></li>
</ol>

<p>I would appreciate any advice that anyone might be able to offer. If you have any suggestions for how to contact persons who might have more experience with OCU let me know.</p>

2

<p>I don’t know much about OCU, but if you post this on the music major forum you might get more responses (go to discussion home then college majors and select music major).</p>

3

<p>I don’t understand the problem if you were encouraged last spring when you thought it would be $7K per year, but discouraged now when it’s $9K per year. Is there a typo in the figures (did you mean you thought it’d be more like $17K)? Either way, note that over the past year, most schools saw their endowments decline between 20-30%.</p>

4

<p>I’m confused as well. OCU has “by the numbers” freshman scholar determination, so you should have had a pretty good idea of what your D would be offered. Did her GPA drastically fall? Even with music talent awards being a possibility, you couldn’t have/shouldn’t “bet” on them before–or even after–applying.</p>

<p>[Oklahoma</a> City University : Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.okcu.edu/financialaid/ugradscholarships.asp#freshmen]Oklahoma”>http://www.okcu.edu/financialaid/ugradscholarships.asp#freshmen)</p>