I’m posting this here since student debt can be particularly odious for our kids studying MT, a field where future income may be limited or sporadic.
In the past Northwestern capped student borrowing at a total of $20,000 over 4 years, but this new program will eliminate even that debt for incoming students.If other MT programs offer similar arrangements, it would be great to list those in this thread as well!
Most of (if not all) the schools that offer 100% demonstrated financial aid w/o loans, are schools that have HUGE endowments and can afford to do so. (My oldest is at one of those schools.)
BUT … I would caution that doesn’t mean you don’t pay anything out of pocket - there still is an EFC.
Here’s the list of schools that say they’re no loans:
Just as a side note, Northwestern has long been included on the list of schools that guaranteed meeting 100% of demonstrated financial need (the list above is from September and NU is on it), and they have been very generous with both of our kids. That, however, is not the same as saying they meet those needs without student loans. Most of the schools on the list above still offer students subsidized loans as part of their aid packages.
Yesterday’s move to completely eliminate student loans next year is yet another step in a very positive direction and it would be great to hear which other schools with MT programs have done it.
I totally get what you’re saying. But it’s entirely possible that after filling out all the financial aid docs, that NW could said “yay! you don’t have to pay $60,000 - we have decided your EFC based on your financials if $15,000 a year”.
Then what? What if you just can’t squeak out that money? Do they take your word for it and give your an additional $15,000 more?
My oldest is at Vanderbilt. We do not qualify for federal financial aid. And while the amount that Vandy gives us in the amount of grants is HUGE, we do pay X amount per year. And it’s not a small amount by any means.
Basically, I think it’s awesome that Northwestern is saying/doing this. I would just caution anyone that it doesn’t necessarily mean free.
Davidson is a no loans school, but they only have a theater BA.
@KaMaMom - I totally take your point and am glad you made it! This certainly doesn’t eliminate the EFC, but for the portion the student is expected to contribute the difference between loans and grants (even when student loans were capped at $20,000 as NU did prior to yeasterday’s announcement) could easily be the difference between successfully launching as an actor versus needing to work a survival job full time to pay down debt.
In our D’s case, this would have saved our family $20,000!
I think this is a fabulous move on Northwestern’s part.
It would be interesting to know what levels of student debt MTs are graduating with, and how they manage that debt after graduation. I know we’ve seen an article about a specific student a few years ago, but it would be interesting to hear more stories from the trenches.
D graduated in June, and it is already interesting to see how various friends are managing post graduation. Some have debt to repay and have to take full-time survival jobs, some have no debt but also minimal post-college parental support (our D falls here on the spectrum), while others have parents funding them almost completely for their first few years out of college. These differences DO matter on terms of how often kids are able to audition, how fresh they are when they get into the room, and how long they can stick it out without booking work.
Well, fabulous it may be, but for us it’s too late 
Still, this year, NU did thankfully add no debt to my D’s package (they met her need without loans) so that is fabulous. Even so, she will be graduating with about $20K in debt. My D at Williams graduated with only about $7K because they actually reversed their no-debt decision midway through her tenure there, which was frustrating. My other kids will be graduating with debt as well. Am I the only one who finds all this sort of terrifying?
For us, since we are high need, the private schools with high endowments have been the cheapest option; for instance, Williams and NU are cheaper than Rutgers (our state university). This is also something to bear in mind for those who, like us, meet the high need definition according to FAFSA and Profile.
As far as work–I totally agree with @MomCares, that their own debt load/parent help/outright funding does matter. I guess you just have to do the best with the cards you’re dealt, and there are positives to having to make your own way. I do think if you are frugal and budget, you can survive on your own in most markets while paying off a loan.
Too late for us as well, but I’m very happy for future students.
I know that even without debt there are plenty of shows D can’t afford to do, since rent must be paid and a gal needs to eat occasionally. Plus if a contract isn’t paying well enough she can’t afford to miss auditions while she’s working on it. This has forced her to pass on some things that might otherwise have provided great exposure and contacts, and I can imagine how much more this would happen if there were large school loan payments every month.