OK, so we all know MT programs for the most part are somewhat expensive, etc. I am wondering if , for those of you that money was a factor, did you just apply at a few $45,000-$50,000 schools just to see what they offered in terms of financial aid/scholarships or did you just avoid those schools altogether? Of course, factoring in that the program is a right fit, etc. One school we are interested in is $54,000 which would be not doable without significant aid for us…i guess we should not even have D apply there…
This is a helpful post:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1745140-which-schools-give-the-best-merit-aid-another-freakonomics-post-p1.html
wow thanks. I am printing off that list, it sorta made me sad though reading it…so many of these schools are going to be out of reach for my D. What is that saying…talent without opportunity…ugh…
Cross reference with the thread that denotes what schools allow you to stack talent and merit. Search under
“Stack”.
@theaterwork Remember that you need to determine if you have need by using the financial aid calculators every school provides. The list that was compiled are for students who are determined not to have any need by schools, and are only relying on merit aid. If you have financial need, then it is a different ball game and you need to explore what schools offer for students with need.
I want to echo what @uskoolfish said, as often the very expensive schools that offer the least merit/talent aid may become the least expensive option when demonstrated financial need is considered. We also saw specific MTs (in our experience always male) get huge grants from programs not known to offer them, so you never know what can happen.
When it comes to $, I think the key thing is to have an open, honest and inclusive conversation with your child about what you are willing to pay towards college and how (savings, parent loans, student loans, etc.). If they know these parameters up front and still want to apply to expensive schools in hopes of getting financial aid/merit/talent money to make it affordable, at the amount you all have pre-determined together, then I say go for it. Some of Ds most generous offers were from schools in the $50,000 range. Just be sure the guidelines are very clear as far as what the bottom line needs to be in terms of the total cost of attendance. You don’t want them to get too excited when they’re told they’ve received a $40,000 scholarship only to realize it is $10,000 per year for 4 years off of a $50,000 tuition (meaning you would still pay $40,000 per year). Each school words things differently and can make their offers sound very exciting and appealing. Make sure you really read all the fine print and perhaps make a spreadsheet to show what all of the costs of attendance and all of the aid received would be. So that when you are comparing final offers you are comparing apples to apples. Your student really needs to understand what cost per year you are willing to pay for.
You also may want to set a budget for application fees. Some schools are more expensive to apply to than others. Try to be realistic. And some will waive application fees altogether. Just ask. The worst they can say is no.
There is what is possible and there is what is probable. While anecdotes abound about what may be possible, we focused on what is probable. We ran an EFC calculator, reviewed merit aid pages, and used the financial calculators for each school that D was interested in to determine what the probable cost was going to be. D generally did not apply to schools that we estimated to be beyond our price range. We did not want to spend time, money, and effort on auditioning for schools that would end up being too expensive if she did get in (we are from Texas so on-campus auditions at many schools involved very expensive and time-consuming trips, and you can only do so many auditions at Unifieds).
D’s merit/talent offers generally matched what we estimated very closely. She did get a very large set of scholarships that brought a $50,000+ school down to about $25,000, but she also received some great scholarships from less expensive schools that brought the costs down to $15-17,000. The rest of the $45,000+ schools did not get under $30,000 (ignoring loan offers). Our EFC put any need-based fin aid out of range. D had very good but not Ivy-level grades and test scores.
Son had one financial wild card on the list, CMU. I did what EmsDad suggested above, and the rest of his list were probable schools. During the long stretch of rejections that came before his most important acceptances, I had a wild, anxiety fueled fear that he would be accepted only to CMU and we wouldn’t be able to afford it. Son knew that all the stars would need to align for him to attend the wild card school, but it would have still hurt to turn down a school because of finances. Luckily he was rejected! 
thanks for all the advice…great to have found such knowledgeable people here! I think we are going to make our list to include some schools that are financially a reach perhaps but not crazy expensive. Yes, I know once we are closer to the time we will do the financial aid calculator to see if we qualify for need based, although I am betting we do not qualify for much. We are focusing on schools in the lower to middle range tuition wise right now and where my daughter has interest in being location wise. So stressful…the money part makes me sick to my stomach…I am so afraid she wont be accepted to a school that is affordable and all the ones she gets accepted we wont be able to pay for!
Our plan was to let S apply to a few expensive schools (for OUR family’s budget and knew we would not qualify for needs-based scholarships/grants) - but only to those within “easy” driving distance. We knew that if by some chance he got in AND got good merit/talent award (we’d heard the rumors about boys getting more), that paying travel costs to get him home - or for us to visit/see shows - would be prohibitive. We had honest discussions about costs from the very beginning. The two “expensive” schools he was accepted to both offered nice merit/talent scholarships, but not enough to attend without acquiring student (and parent) loans. He was not accepted at the “most expensive” programs he auditioned for. Now that he is doing summer theater work and sees how little he is making in comparison to how much he needs to eat, he is VERY glad there will be no student loans to impact his post-graduation options.
We were fine with taking the chances on the more expensive schools - paying the app fees and traveling to auditions. As others have said, we had a wonderful chance to travel with our S as he went through the journey. And he doesn’t have to wonder “what if. . .” about some of the more select/expensive schools.
We looked seriously at how generous colleges have been in the past with scholarship money, and if scholarships were stackable. My D is very frugal, so discussing financial matters and managing expectations with her was easy because she was realistic. We decided to include some financial reaches on her list, but we all knew everything would have to somehow align perfectly to attend. Two schools in the 50s were the most generous with scholarships and grants for D, bringing their costs down to almost the very least expensive option on her list (and that was an incredibly cheap option that D would’ve been happy to attend). She will be attending one of those initially $50k schools in the fall.
We did mention travel costs at that school, and they found additional money for D. Remember that negotiating costs is possible. It doesn’t always pan out, but it is possible. Just don’t depend on it, of course.
I know that your question was about tuition, but these matters are related to finances, as well:
Application and audition costs are ridiculous, especially when applying for so many schools. Thankfully, D had a job that helped pay for part of that and some of her lessons. I met others at Unifieds who did the same, and a couple whose only gift at Christmas was those fees.
One way to bulk up your possibilities without paying much initially is to do walk-ins at Unifieds if you’re attending them. You’re taking a big chance in being able to have a walk-in audition, so I wouldn’t do this for schools to which you definitely know you want to audition. But, you can make a list of your top choices, then see which schools often offer walk-ins, and add a few those which are not on your initial top choice list to a “possible walk-in list.” (D had a “top choice” list of 15 schools, then knew she’d probably want to walk-in at some others. She ended up walking-in at 3, a couple of which she didn’t know about beforehand. She loved the “spontaneity” of walk-ins and was eager to do them. It was fun for her to roam around and see which were taking walk-ins. In fact, she ended up wanting to do 1 or 2 more, but they were already booked.)
My D’s school’s direct cost are $48k and it ended up being less than our in state public school, her tuition portion of the bill is dramatically less than her Catholic HS! BUT, this is an exception. She got in another MT program at a $62k school and they only gave her 8k a year. Of course it is a hard admit, and they care about grades and GPA, not just talent, but still.
It is her test score that got her the big money (super score 30). And a great GPA, with many AP classes. This was far more important than her talent in getting money.
@entertainersmom, I know. So glad to see some of those rejections!!!
Check out Missouri State University ! It has a wonderfu audition l program with an equity theatre that comes to its campus (53 hrs running) in the summer and does a NYC showcase and many alumni on Broadway ! The tuition for my daughter is only 13,500 yr including room and board ( out of state tuition waiver due to good test scores and an academic scholarship with talent scholarship to come jr and Sr years! She was accepted into 8 programs, some very well known ones included , but we were really impressed with program, connections and price at Missouri State! It’s also a beautiful campus!
Thanks @Christyflower but Missouri is not good for us geographically…too far. We are east coast. Love that price though!! lol
Temple offers really great merit aid and the theatre department sometimes adds on extra money on top of that. I’m an incoming freshman and could tell you more about it!
Dies Temple offer a MT option or is just straight acting? @attheballet
Temple offers an MT concentration within their BA theatre program. Their website describes the program in detail:
MT Concentration information: http://www.temple.edu/theater/undergrad/musicaltheater.html
BA Theatre information: http://www.temple.edu/theater/undergrad/index.html