My S19 wants to major in Design/Tech (lighting design emphasis). He is looking for a BFA program at a school without a grad program, preferably located in a larger city in the midwest or east. And tuition plus room and board needs to be under $40,000 per year. I’m having trouble finding programs that meet all of these criteria. I thought I’d ask the experts - you all - to see if any of the schools your MT and acting majors are applying to might also be a good fit for my tech theatre son. Do you have any suggestions for him?
Hey @RKmom - this first question anyone will ask when it comes to affordability is… what’s your home state and what are his academic stats? None of the schools that we considered came in under 40K for tuition + room and board but there are many that fall under that price if they are public and your son qualifies for in-state tuition or he qualified for academic merit scholarships. Price aside, I think Syracuse and UNCSA are two schools with excellent tech theatre design programs and (I think) no design grad students but neither is in a “larger city”.
My son is currently in the BFA theater tech program at SUNY Fredonia as a lighting design student. OOS tuition is about $31K. In the interests of complete honesty, my son is considering leaving the BFA and going into a general theater BA. He LOVES doing lighting and solving lighting problems, but he hates art and doesn’t want to design lighting, sets or anything else that he is required to by the program, he just wants to figure out how to execute other people’s designs and solve their problems. It’s sort of like he’s decided that he wants to be an editor and not a writer.
In any event, the program is well regarded and he likes the teachers and other students. He really likes the school, too. The only problem is that he has to find a minor if he leaves the BFA and he can’t think of anything he likes.
@techmom99 at Fredonia, he can design his own interdisciplinary minor, which could be a cool way to merge topics that he likes.
@RKmom check out UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County). It hits on many of your desires. It’s not right in Baltimore, but it’s one exit away on I-95, or a quick metro train trip if he needs to take public transportation. Also not far from DC. Out of state tuition/room/board/fees are around 43,000 but they do have scholarship opportunities. My daughter, who graduated with a BFA Acting and BA French, had a full-tuition scholarship for academics, and there’s also a cool scholarship program called the Linehan Artist/Scholar that is for a variety of arts majors. They have the opportunity (but not requirement) to live together, and also attend cultural events and have interesting seminars and research opportunities. They participate in KCACTF, which is a great program. And it’s undergrad only.
A 2015 grad won the Helen Hayes Award for lighting design (and was nominated two other times as well).
Google UMBC theater production photos and look at the images to see the beautiful work their technicians do.
The president of UMBC, Freeman Hrabowski, is an inspirational, amazing man, and he runs a wonderful university.
So high-jacking this thread because I’m interested, @techmom99 - that’s similar to what my older D likes. She has no interest in working on the"artistic" side of theatre, she wants to make stuff that the artists envision “work” on stage. She’s doing a BA in Technical Direction and this semester is drafting and directing the development of a full show set from the show’s designer’s drawings - so exciting and she feels like the set is as much “hers” as the set designer’s. I hope your S finds a good fit for his interests outside the BFA - the theatre world needs those passionate practical folks to complement the passionate artists! 
The interdisciplinary minor looks interesting. I am also talking to him about the leadership minor, which I think might also appeal to him. Right now, he has to go talk to his advisor about the switch because he needs to be able to register in the new classes for next semester. I really want him to stay at Fredonia. He loves the school and I see him maturing and growing.
@CaMom13 - Where is your D at school? I think my son is feeling down because so many of his cohort are not struggling with the art stuff. I hope that my son will get to that stage - executing the vision of the lighting designer and bringing it to life.
@techmom99 She’s at Purdue. I really don’t know much outside her experience but she says Purdue has several paths for techical theatre work because they have a polytechnic college as well as a college of liberal arts. I know she works with students majoring in sound and/or lighting some of whom are already employed in the business and they’re working towards BAs or equivalents. Your son may want to look around for a program more geared towards what he wants to do. I know it’s hard to leave a school you love but harder still to stay at a program that doesn’t meet your goals. Encourage him to look/ask around - he won’t lose anything and it may be if he gets a sense for at what more practically inclined lighting programs offer he’ll be able to put together a major/minor combination to get the same training at Freedonia.
@CaMom13 Home state is Ohio. GPA is 4.0. Test scores are good enough to qualify for merit money at the schools we have looked at so far.
@lovetoact Thanks so much! We will check out UMBC.
@techmom99 Thanks for the Fredonia recommendation. We already have them on our list thanks to your posts on the tech theatre thread. My son’s one concern is that maybe it is too “small town” for him.
It sounds like your son would enjoy a lighting technology program versus a lighting design program. Some schools offer that major - pretty sure Univ of Cincinnati is one of them, if he wants to consider transferring.
Possibly Wright State would be worth looking into. I thought IU would be a match but it looks like the reciprocity agreement for Ohio doesn’t extended to the Bloomington campus. I might look at IU anyway - it has the design BFA with lighting concentration, Bloomington isn’t a large city but it’s a city and Indiana schools are just over 40K including R&B with no merit aid. Pace University offers automatic scholarships for good grades and scores - they were one of my performing D’s cheapest options but she didn’t get into the BFA program. 
They have a more general “Production and Design” BFA but I assume you’d be able to specialize within that degree. Ditto Temple - great merit aid, general “Design and Production” BFA with electives for a lighting specialty. I think Pace looks as if it has more advanced lighting courses. Not sure if your S will consider a less specific BFA program but you can’t get better locations for a kid who wants city life than to be in Philly or NYC!
@RKmom -
What constitutes too “small town?” My S17 has lived his entire life in a suburb of NYC and Fredonia isn’t too small for him. In all honesty, he rarely goes off campus. Buffalo is 45 minutes away and there’s a bus. Also, many kids (not mine) have cars.
I don’t know if he wants to transfer, he really likes Fredonia. But I will look into U of Cincy and lighting tech programs as that does sound more like what he wants. Thank you.
@RKmom – for the BFA without a grad program requirement – does that mean no MFAs in theatre whatsoever? Or no MFAs in lighting?
VCU Arts has BFA and MFA programs, but as far as I know, there are no MFAs in lighting – only BFAs. However, everyone starts at a theatre foundation level for the first two years, and then focus on their concentration. Richmond is not a “big city” but it is a city and VCU is an urban campus.
Has Purchase College been suggested? It would appear to match nearly all of your stated criteria. (However, though it is near New York City, its setting is suburban.)
https://www.purchase.edu/academics/theatre-design-technology/
@techmom99 He would prefer a city of at least 500,000.
Thanks @OrangeFish I’ll take a look at VCU Arts. He just wants a school with no MFAs in lighting, so that there are more design opportunities for undergrads.
Thanks @merc81. Purchase hasn’t been suggested yet. I’ll take a look.
Thanks for the suggestions @CaMom13 He took Temple off the list because of their grad program. As much as he loves urban living, that’s the one area he will compromise on in his search to get a BFA program at a school with no lighting MFA program. I’ll take a look at Pace and IU.
@RKmom -
I understand that SUNY Buffalo has a theater program but we didn’t even consider it for S17. My sister-in-law had her first breakdown as a student there so it’s been off the table for all of my kids, but the kids I know who have gone there have loved it. I don’t know any theater majors there, though. However, Buffalo would probably meet your son’s size preference. I will say that Fredonia is known as a performing arts school so there are lots of artsy, musical type kids around and the vibe might be different from Buffalo.
S17 looked at Purchase but decided not to complete the tech portion of the application because it doesn’t offer an MT program and he enjoys working on the musicals. He was accepted to the general BA in theater.
He was also accepted at both LIU-Post and Adelphi but declined because they are too close to home.