<p>Waiting for the rest of the aid info to come and I am baffled as to how these things are determined for music majors. My D has large general academic scholarships at 2 of the schools at which she also auditioned for music. I called one of the schools to ask if the academic award would affect the possible music award, imagining the thought process could be, 'well she already has all this other money from us and it's probably enough to convince her to come if she's inclined, so our music $ could be put to better use here with this other student...' They claimed that the academic and music awards are completely independent and there is no communication between admissions and music on this topic. It's hard for me to believe, since schools have limited funds and have to figure out how to best allocate them to get the students they want.</p>
<p>Anyone with experience have info to share on this topic? I haven't contacted the other school yet to ask this question. Both are public universities, if that makes a difference. Is there a sort of standard way schools go about the process, or is it different at every school?</p>
<p>Not expecting financial aid from these schools except maybe loans, so didn't ask about that.</p>
<p>We found that the academic and music merit awards were completely independent at the schools son applied to several years ago. So it sounds like your child might still be in the running for more merit aid. Two of the public schools my son applied to even increased their music merit awards (unsolicited by us since both schools were instate and had offered a good package already) when son revisited them in April of his senior year. Good luck and remember it will all be over soon.</p>
<p>It depends on the school. At two schools, my D was offered significant music aid plus significant academic aid, but at two others they made it clear that it was an either/or deal. And then of course there are those places that didn’t offer her any aid at all…</p>
<p>Every school my D has applied to handles it differently, but they split into two overall categories. For her,
at two schools you only get talent money, no chance for academic.<br>
at five other schools you can get both, but it is not guaranteed and getting academic money does not preclude you from getting talent money. Talent money comes from your audition and academic comes from your transcript.
And at one school you can get talent money, but it is a relatively small award that you must apply for separately.</p>
<p>My son only applied to conservatories, but even then sometimes his total merit money came from two separate funds, and in some cases those funds were specifically for academics while the other funds were for music. </p>
<p>That being said we learned (albeit the hard way) that some schools will not release merit money without a financial aide application filled out, even though the merit money is specifically independent of financial need. So even if you think you do not qualify for financial aide you might want to take the time to start filling out the FAFSA and submit it to the financial aide department at your child’s school. Also sometimes having the FAFSA, especially if you are not super rich but part of the increasingly downwardly mobile upper middle class, will result in them releasing slightly more funds to you as part of your merit package. That happened to us with at least one school.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. It’s good to hear about others’ experiences, to get perspective and advice. We did file the FAFSA. It should be good for laughs anyway, if nothing else comes of it. Just got first FA letter, from our state school. The COA is $12,000 less than EFC, so didn’t even get a loan offer from them. I wasn’t certain at some places if it might be needed for scholarship consideration. Easier to just fill FAFSA out and send it, than to try to determine that for all these schools.</p>
<p>All of my kids’ music scholarships were completely independent from all of their academic scholarships at each school to which they applied. Neither category affected the other.</p>
<p>This is such a great question! It would be so valuable to know which schools combine music & talent aid vs. either/or. Do any of you know if such a list exists? Would anyone be willing to share the names of schools and how they treat merit aid?</p>
<p>From several years ago:Combined music/academic with music awarded by music dept and academic by the college:
Baldwin Wallace
Ithaca (leadership award also)
College of Saint Rose (leadership award also)
SUNY Fredonia
SUNY Potsdam Crane</p>
<p>Only music scholarship available:
Hartt</p>
<p>Indiana University gives both academic and music scholarships; both are administered by the music school.</p>
<p>UIUC offers both- talent from the music department and academic merit from the admissions, but since the school is broke there is not much available. I know it is separate though, because DS got a letter about an academic scholarship, and the music department told me they are not releasing offers until 4/1.</p>
<p>Northwestern, USC, and Michigan all offered separate academic and music merit awards a few years ago…</p>
<p>Oberlin offers music scholarships to those in the conservatory, academic scholarships to those in the college, both to those in the dual degree program, and need-based aid to all who qualify. The process is administered by the same office for both college and conservatory. Like admissions there, the process is holistic. In cases where both academic and musical scholarships are awarded, one can have an effect on the amount of the other. Need-based aid claims to meet 100% of demonstrated need (i.e. no gapping) and they are good about keeping the loans reasonably low. Admission is not entirely need-blind in that they will consider ability to pay in students who are borderline admissible. About two-thirds of their students receive some amount of need-based aid.</p>
<p>CCM at U. of Cincinnati will award both academic and music talent awards. Academic awards are controlled by the University, music merit by CCM.</p>
<p>Headoflife, when did you talk to someone at UIUC music? My D also received academic award from them and then prof e-mailed her last week telling that music awards should be coming in the next week, so we were hoping this week. I suppose I should call them myself…</p>