My son and I need advice, he was accepted to NYU Tisch (Meisner)…his dream school…he attended the HS program at NYU last summer. He was also accepted to The New School, Pace, Marymount Manhatten, and UT Austin BA. He has narrowed list to NYU, New School and UT. The big delimma is money…NYU gave him $30,000 leaving $40,000 year for loans, New School gave him about the same and UT Austin the loans required would be $14,000. Is a BFA degree from NYU worth $160,000 in debt? Are the advantages of being in NYC and the connections worth it? Or is UT in Austin a better choice? We live in Texas so he qualifies for in state tuition and the BA degree allows the freedom of a double major. I am a lower middle class single mom with 2 other kiddos at home so I cannot assist my son financially with college. We are so stressed about this decision…Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!
He won’t be able to take out that amount in loans on his own. I would go to the least expensive school and save that money for living expenses in NYC once he graduates.
Agree with @bissou that he can only take out a small amount in his name each year through the government. The rest would be private loans with a cosigner or a parent loan in your name. Some schools offer loans through the university too. Not sure how that works.
It is a huge burden to graduate with that much debt ($160,000). It is not that NYU or new school aren’t worth it. They are both great programs. And a $30,000 a year package is pretty darn good! But having an option to go for less would allow a lot more flexibility and freedom later in life. Austin is a great arts town to go to school in.
Good luck. It is a very hard and personal decision.
If you are unable to assist with expenses, absolutely go with the least expensive option. He would need you to either take out loans to cover the difference (or be a co-signer) as he can only take out a set limit himself, as they stated above. Coming out of college with little debt (especially in this business) is really the smart way to go. Best of luck.
Absolutely not, especially if you’re talking about the student taking on that debt (and I can’t imagine how a student could do that alone). If you are unable to fund his college for a substantial amount of that remaining amount, he should choose the school where the least amount of debt will be taken on. In this profession, one that will almost certainly mean long periods of unemployment, carrying any kind of substantial debt load will affect his ability to book work.
I’m also a parent that cannot afford huge loans, son is a junior and we have build a list with (we hope) many financial safeties. Be proud of the fine school that have validated his acting, go with the best financial fit. Read about loans, especially parent plus loans. What I read really put my head on straight about financial priorities - it is #1. Here’s an article http://time.com/money/4489213/plus-loans-risk/ I’ve heard personal stories of a parent that missed 1 payment, and her next paycheck was garnished.
All it takes is a read of the who’s who in the playbill for a typical national tour to figurre out that no school is worth $160k more than UT. In the program you will see actors from Oklahoma City University, University of Florida, Muehlenberg, Pace, Emerson, San Diego State, and more.
My opinion is that many of the “top” schools make their reputation on selectivity rather than on any particularly higher level of excellence in training.
And, as one of my daughter’s friends said when accepted at NYU Musical Theatre (no aid) and Columbia Barnard (boatloads of aid), “Yeah, I was kind of sad that I couldn’t go to my dream school. But I would have been more sad if I couldn’t afford to go to NYC to pursue my career because I was too deep in debt to live in the NY area.”
Thank you!! All so very true!
Parent loans are a scary thought…thank you so much…and great article
Thank you all for taking the time to respond to our question…it has helped a great deal in this big decision.
I have students who transferred into NYU ( from community college) so only did 2 years at Tisch. Much less expensive, same BFA degree.
An option I will suggest if he really wants a BFA is to take a gap year so he won’t already be into his allotted aid at a school he doesn’t necessarily want to be and in the meantime, do some better research to find schools that won’t be as much of a financial drain. Don’t all the colleges have to provide accurate(ish) cost calculators now?
Are there not some Texas state schools besides Austin that have BFAs? Maybe try for those next year along with some less expensive out-of-state options. He could probably get academic scholarships to some of them if he has the stats to pass the threshhold for NYU.
I know that lots of kids dream of going to college in NYC, but that dream can become a nightmare when they graduate and can’t afford to stay there. $160,000 in debt? No way! Does anybody even know what the monthly payments for that would be? Even if he is brilliant and lands a role on Broadway straight out of school, the AEA minimum is $1,861 a week which is all he will make until until he is a “name” with a Q Score. That isn’t enough to even begin making a dent in that kind of debt. Don’t even get me started on the scant pay for SAG-AFTRA co-stars and one day guests combined with the $3,000 initiation fee for which actors who made bad decisions when they were 18 take out even more loans on top of the strangulation they already suffer from college.
I came from a good public arts magnet and the teachers there only recommend the really expensive BFAs that are not known for being generous with grants and scholarships to students with rich parents for whom money is no object. Unfortunately, on our Facebook group, almost every single year, we still end up having to talk a kid off the ledge who didn’t listen and gets accepted to a prestigious private school that he can’t afford - most often NYU, CMU, or Syracuse.
Sorry. I promised myself that I wouldn’t give advice here except on the thread I started, but this one made my fingers too itchy.
@mtmom2014 - it was my understanding (from my D’s classmates) that you need 3 years of studio credit (2 primary, 1 advanced) to graduate with a BFA from Tisch. I know people who have transferred in after freshman year in another school at NYU or elsewhere and still graduated in 4 years… but not one who has done it in two. @soozievt, @halflokum - am I correct? Can you get a BFA from 2 years in studio?
@toowonderful…I am not certain on the transfer “rules” at Tisch, but those whom I know that transferred in had to do 3 years of studio, and still graduated in 4 years. I have never heard of being able to do only two years of studio and earning a BFA in Drama at Tisch.
Six semesters of artistic training (studio) are required. If the transfer applicant has artistic training from his/her previous school, and it is training that Tisch will credit, the most they can place out of is one semester, leaving five semesters of studio training being required.
So it wouldn’t be possible to get a Tisch BFA and only be at NYU 2 years
I also feel compelled (AGAIN) to counteract the stereotype that kids at high cost schools like NYU either have parents rolling in cash, or are drowning in debt. Neither is the case for us - we are not wealthy (I am a public school teacher for heaven’s sake!) and yet my kid, who did not qualify for need based aide, will graduate with Zero debt. The extremes are certainly there, D knows uber rich kids, and D knows kids who I worry about being able to pay things off after college, but most are just ordinary people.
How is it you can afford to send her to NYU on a teacher’s salary? I am a public school teacher for 30 years and there is no way I could do it without taking out loans. Just curious 
UT Austin is a great school!
@bisouu - husband is not a teacher 
That being said, he’s certainly not a captain of industry either. We made a plan a long time ago, and that helped. But college costs are big, so it will take us some time to finishing paying for NYU, but D will be debt free
So for a child whose family is not willing to take out loans, NYU is out of reach for a large majority of the population unless one or both parents has a job that can pay for it. I had always planned on using the equity in my home to help pay for college for my D, when the market tanked there went her college tuition. Wished I had planned better. So glad it has worked for you @toowonderful