My daughter got a nice scholarship to attend Stamps Art at UM and they are actually flying her out to UM for 3 days. Anyone have experience with this and what to expect? We were told she is receiving one of the few scholarships that Stamps Art gives out. We are OOS and am grateful for it but it still may not be enough to make us comfortable sending her to UM. If they are going through so much effort for my daughter would it be appropriate for us to ask for more help? They really seem to want her to attend. After what we can financially contribute (which matches our EFC) and her federal 5500 loan and 3000 work study we are about 8K away.
Congratulations on the scholarship!
Scholarships are awarded based upon pre-defined criteria of the applicant. Grants are issued based on financial need. As you described, your $8k should fall within the financial need category. If you can identify any change to your CSS profile/FAFSA, they may be able to help.
The Financial Aid office is amazing. I recommend you reach out to them to discuss your concerns and they will point you in the right direction if another avenue exists.
Is the 3-day visit a campus visit, or rather is it a part of finalizing the scholarship?
That is one of the events for scholarship winners. They are trying to encourage those students to attend. There should be a session by the financial aid office. Make sure she talk to them about additional needs.
I am not sure- it just says all-expenses paid Stamps school scholarship weekend (it’s actually Thur- Sat). I did correspond with the admissions director and she said my daughter can attend without a commitment to UM. It is not to finalize anything. I’m sure it would be a tour, although we already toured UM twice and my daughter spent 2 weeks there a few summers ago when she attended a Portfolio Prep program at Stamps Art school. Still amazed at this, we never expect a school like UM to be flying my daughter out to some weekend. I think I will prepare a document and spreadsheet to give to her to she can show financial aid. After the weekend I will contact the FA office. I should add we did receive a generous grant too besides the scholarship. We are struggling if over $50,000 in student loans after graduation is a smart thing- even with a Michigan degree. Also, we have another daughter that will start college one year later too. We can be taking on that kind of debt for both daughters.
There are many students here in the arts who came to UM as the best of the best (which they should be). But many of them were not used to the level of competition that awaited them once they arrived on campus. Some were inspired by being surrounded by such a group, while others really struggled emotionally. One of the theatre students in our dorm left after first-semester of freshman year for exactly that reason. They were OOS, far from home, and found out it was hard not always being the ‘lead’.
Make sure your daughter is in the right mindset to take that on - regardless how much money or stature comes with the UM acceptance. And, please make sure to have her pay attention to that part of her visit and find the support (if any) she may need prior to move-in day. I guarantee she will know what she wants when she gets back, because, as I’ve said on CC in the past, once you are in, they treat you like family.
What an exciting time and amazing opportunity! Go Blue!
She also got into VCU Arts (that program is ranked #2 in country by some publications, right behind Yale) which is even more intense than UM from what we understand. She did well when she attended a 2 week portfolio prep program at UM before her junior year. That is our concern with VCU since it is quite a ways away. We have family and friends in Toledo which is a 45 min drive away from Ann Arbor- she has support close to UM and we live 4 hours away. I hope we can make it work, it would be a good fit for her, however at this time VCU is offering her more money and we still don’t have notice of an additional honors scholarship she qualified for at VCU yet.