UNT housing: If you are accepted and dont go they give you back 350…if you are rejected you get the full deposit back. We secured Bruce Hall when housing opened bc mine knew he wanted to live there IF he was accepted. @BeverlyWest YES!!! I made hotel reservations for: orientation, move in weekend, AND what I think may be parent weekend or just a weekend we will visit (I’m not sold on it HAVING to be parent weekend). Made these all awhile ago.
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Hello! Is there anyone who was accepted to CCM (Cincinnati conservatory)? Have you guys received a talent-based scholarship already? I’ve got an email with a merit one but still waiting on this one. Didn’t want to bother admission office and ask them
We’re new to the world of music conservatories and had a question about institutional aid. We’re a middle class family with an EFC of $10,000. The best offer we have from any of the 3 conservatories my son was admitted to is a 15,000 merit scholarship with another $5,000 in loans. This is for an institution that costs almost $80,000 to attend. We have a little bit of savings but can’t come up 50 or 60 thousand per year out of pocket. We have full scholarships to a couple of regional state schools, but for complicated reasons, a conservatory is a better fit for him. We plan to appeal, but I doubt we’ll get enough to make it feasible. Has anyone else faced this? Are there any options beyond giving up on these schools? We were a little shocked that there wasn’t some need-based aid for someone in our income bracket. Our son has always understood that he could end up in the state school, but he’s pretty heartbroken. He’s had a rough time in secondary school and really needed something to go his way.
With an EFC that low, I’m surprised about the lack of aid, but I’m new to this, too. Are these schools that also use the CSS? I would absolutely call the financial aid offices and ask what is happening, but others here can offer the best advice. We had a similar situation, and they declined to explain why they thought we could pay 60k. 
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I wish I could be more optimistic, but most music conservatories do not guarantee to meet full need for all of their accepted students. So…your FAFSA EFC would be the minimum you would be expected to pay☹️.
You certainly can ask for more, but “more” isn’t going to likely get you to a $10,000 family contribution.
@BeverlyWest I’ve never (with two kids and one a musician) heard of a school giving a reason why their aid was what it was.
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Berklee required the CSS. They offered a $5,000 institutional grant but only $8,000 in merit. My memory is that Mannes didn’t ask for the CSS, just FAFSA. They gave $15,000 merit but no institutional grant, just loans. Boston Conservatory gave $0 in merit. His prescreen video was probably stronger than the live auditions, and his GPA is lower than the average candidate due to ADHD struggles. I don’t know if the latter had an impact on grants.
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Grants are usually need based. Scholarships are usually merit based.
He sounds like a very hard worker who loves his music. I’m sure he will grow as a musician wherever he attends school.
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Yeah, we didn’t expect them to meet need. I was just surprised at the gulf. We could probably come up with 30,000 but not 60,000. We’re proud of him for being accepted despite his disability. I just wish we could help make it happen for him. We are considering deferring the Berklee acceptance till summer so he could earn some money, but then he would have to give up the state scholarships.
Please try to plan for all four years. While this will help with ONE year, it won’t cover the gulf for all four.
Does the state university have a decent music program?
That’s true. We would have to scramble to get him through all 4 years. One of the state schools has a pretty good music program but he might not be very challenged. They also have an excellent recording program and are located right by Nashville. There are lots of industry connections. It’s not known for its classical program especially, but it has strong faculty in piano and composition.
The reality is that conservatories have as their main priority bringing in the highest level of talent with their fixed bucket of money each year. It is difficult to anticipate where a student falls within the talent pool as there are so many unknown variables. Well…variables are known to the program, but not known to the student.
As I read through the posts of so many fabulous parents, I am impressed with how well you and your students navigated this process. Kudos to you and your kids!
It can be sad and frustrating to have to let go of a school because the finances make it impossible. Especially after watching your musician shine. But I really feel as @thumper1 says above, that musicians, your kids with passion and drive, will shine wherever they land.
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Yeah, I know, but I couldn’t help but ask her while I had her on the zoom. 
My actual question was whether they’d considered our need at all. Like honestly, it seemed like they’d forgotten or lost the paperwork, it was so bad. After I confirmed they had, and knowing he had a $28,000 scholarship at a $90,000 school, we just had to let it go. S called the prof and let him know it cost too much.
I’m hopeful about USC for two reasons. One is that I DID make a significant mistake on our CSS, which I was able to correct in time for USC. And two, because they are known for giving small-or-no scholarships but good aid to families at our relatively low income level.
p.s. We are moving forward, and I’m not planning to go back to the first school and correct my mistake. It’s in the 20K range, and we would need more like 45K additional aid dollars to get us there.
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I thought very briefly about that sort of thing, and then I realized that my kid could probably go to a summer program at Berklee, or at any of several other awesome schools, if he wanted to, and if we saved some money. I’m looking at any savings on tuition as a possible source of funds for study abroad, too. Maybe you can talk with your son about seeing it that way. Rather than scraping together the money for one special school, you could have some comfortable space and leeway to save for cool things.
ETA: Believe me, I understand the urge to do anything you can to make it happen for him. I’ve mentioned before about my son having significant problems with public school teachers around movement. I was ready to move heaven and earth to get him out of that public school and into a place that was right for him.
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If this is Middle Tennessee State, I can tell you it was recommended to us many times. My son decided he wanted to be in a city, but MTSU is obviously well known for music and invests a great deal in their programs. Since my son is not a classical musician, I can’t speak to that specifically, just want you to know I’ve heard really amazing things. People love it, and I’ve heard music is taken very seriously there.
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It is MTSU. It’s nice to know you have heard good things! My older son is a computer science major there, and I went there myself in the 80s. My husband knows the chair of the department, who is an Eastman grad and a pianist–and a really nice guy. We would love for my son to want to choose it (he actually had a great time living on campus there a couple of years ago attending Governor’s School for the Arts). I think his resistance is just tied to the fact that he wanted a true conservatory without so many gen eds and wanted to get away from home (we live an hour away). We did talk to him about getting to do international travel with the money we save if he goes there. We know what the logical thing to do is. It’s just hard to arrive here after months of exhausting auditioning and even acceptances.
The best gift your aspiring musicians can have is little to no debt when they graduate. It will give them the ability to take the time they need to establish themselves in their music careers without worrying about loan payments.
As hard as it is…these aspiring musicians can best learn about budgets earlier than later. It will be a life lesson for them.
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Hi! My trombonist son received his offer yesterday. It had Cincinnatus (academic) and CCM Honors Scholar (talent) listed in it on separate lines. We had received no prior notice and he was accepted in January.
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My kid received Century Scholar and CCM Honors Scholar, but I am not sure if these are merit or talent based ones, or if there are some additional ones available that we don’t know about. It would be nice to get more money, especially talent based.
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Adding more today. Congratulations, everyone!
I’m adding the average full-price COA for the schools where I have been able to find it on my own journey, so that future readers can see how much the schools might cost if they got a similar scholarship.
COAs are approximate. They include, per year:
- tuition
- room & board
- fees
Other costs vary so much based on your kid & program, I’m not including them unless noted.
Please correct me, or tell me if you know any!
BELMONT
15,000 merit
BERKLEE - coa = 71
30,000 music
BOSTON U
80% tuition
Full ride
CASE WESTERN
Full tuition merit (flute performance)
CCM - CINCINNATI COLLEGE-CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
Century Scholar and CCM Honors Scholar
6500 + tuition exchange
CHICAGO COLLEGE OF THE PERFORMING ARTS/ROOSEVELT
13,700 merit/music
CIM - CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC
40,000
22,000
COLUMBIA-CHICAGO - coa = 55
16,000 merit/music (guitar performance)
CU BOULDER
32,000 merit/music
CU DENVER - coa = 46k OOS
6,000 merit
1,000 merit + 14,000 WUE tuition exchange (jazz guitar/performance)
DePAUL
34,000
27,800 merit
EASTMAN
45,000
INDIANA/JACOBS
27,500
ITHACA COLLEGE
22,000 music (vocal performance/music education)
LOYOLA NEW ORLEANS - coa = 62.5
25,500 merit/music (jazz guitar)
27,000 merit/music
LYNN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
Full tuition, room & board
MTSU - MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE
8,000 merit
80% of tuition merit (flute performance)
67,500 merit/music (dual degree)
RIT
22,000 merit
STEVENS
30,000 merit
SUNDERMAN
40,000 music
SUNY FREDONIA
5,000 merit (vocal performance/music education)
SUNY POTSDAM/CRANE SCHOOL OF MUSIC
5,000 merit (vocal performance/music education)
30,000 (vocal performance/music education)
6,000 music
TOWSON
70% tuition (flute performance)
U ARTS - coa = 69.5
26,000 merit/music (guitar performance)
U KENTUCKY
Full tuition
U LOUISVILLE
Full ride
U MARYLAND
20,000 music + 10,000 merit
20,000 music/merit (vocal performance/music education)
70% tuition (flute performance)
U MIAMI FROST - coa = 82
58,100 merit/music
23,200 merit/music
U NORTH TEXAS
All UNT scholarships also grant in-state tuition
10,000 merit/music (jazz guitar)
4,000 merit
U OREGON
5,000 merit (jazz guitar)
VANDERBILT/BLAIR
Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship
VERMONT
20,000 merit
Hi there, I have a question from a newbie mom. CCM is University of Cincinnati, right? And that would be where your kid got these scholarship offers? Since it’s so similar to CIM, I don’t want to mess these up. Does CIM stand for CLEVELAND?