My son has accomplished so much. He has been accepted to some of the top music schools in the country and has been offered an almost a full tuition scholarship (50,000) in his acceptance letter to one of his top choices. Unfortunately, the room and board and the other fees are going to end up still making the cost around 30,000 and we cannot afford to pay it although our financial aid application indicates we should be able to and does not offer more than around 3,000 in loans. Does anyone have any experience with music schools. Will they offer more than full tuition? Are there scholarships that pay room and board? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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Congratulations on your son’s phenomenal accomplishments. A $50k scholarship is virtually unheard of for music kids at my DC’s school. Let’s see if @compmom has an ideas for additional money.
I will PM @davidjoneshsj but there are others who have been on this forum with knowledge on this. There was a thread on merit aid, but he already has a hefty scholarship. Local scholarships if he goes to public school might help, though they are sometimes subtracted from aid.
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Wonderful! As always, thank you!
Does your son have the option to apply as an RA (Resident Assistant) for one or more years? Generally RAs will receive reduced or free room and board.
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I am sure we will be asking if there are any options to help pay room and board. He would be willing to be an RA, but I doubt that is an option as a freshman. I appreciate the idea.
Thanks. While I am really proud of the accomplishment, it breaks my heart that he might not be able to go while getting such a wonderful scholarship. It seems like the conclusion is that most schools are not going to be able to offer room and board? Have you heard of any schools giving room and board and tuition fully on merit?
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30k seems really high for one year of room and board. Usually it’s in the range of 16-18k for on-campus housing and meal plan.
Was that for just one year? Could you possibly have read it wrong?
Also some schools have different priced rooms so maybe he can choose one of the less expensive options? And many people save money when they can move off campus and cook for themselves.
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Also wanting to confirm: was that all merit aid or was some of it need-based aid? If the latter, that portion can go up or down as your finances change each year (if they do).
And if merit-based, make sure to confirm what is needed to continue to receive it for future years.
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I may be oversimplifying. I think it is 20,000 room and board 3-5000 various other expenses and fess and things they mentioned and around 5,000 of tuition that was not covered by the 50,000 scholarship. All my brain could comprehend was the final amount I have to come up with. I think if you take out 3000 subsidized and unsubsidized loans and some kind of work study that it is probably 25,000 of additional loans I would need to find.
Curtis is the program I am aware of that will offset the cost of room and board in addition to the full tuition scholarship. I agree that $30k seems very high for room/board and fees outside of tuition. If one of the costs is health insurance, you can have that waived if your child is still covered under your plan. Usually that will save about $3-4k. And even if your son needs to wait until his second and third year to RA, if the school can offer that option, it would cut your overall 4 year cost significantly. It is generally not feasible for a full time music major to work during the school year due to the incredibly hectic schedule, but mine works in the summer if he does not have a festival acceptance.
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Thanks. If we get that far I will definitely confirm. I believe it was a gpa requirement to keep the merit based scholarship.
I wouldn’t count on getting an RAship to be able to afford a college. They can be very competitive.
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University of North Texas is one school where I know OOS kids have gotten all costs well below $30k. One of the reasons, is because it starts out quite cheap to begin with, under $30k for in state:
https://admissions.unt.edu/tuition-costs-aid
I know nothing about their viola studio, but it looks quite large:
https://strings.music.unt.edu/viola
It is too late to apply to many, if not most, schools for next year. Are you thinking he would take a gap year and reapply?
Although I’m sure you’ve thought of this, is there a university within commuting distance where he could take classes and tuition would be low?
In very general terms, usually there is an inverse relationship between prestige and scholarship awarded. How important is prestige to him? Did he apply to your state flagship?
I have known music kids to get money from Miami Frost, NEC, USC and Berklee. I have never heard of 100% full ride, however. I also know of kids who have gotten a lot of money from Rice, but I’m not sure if that was under their tuition guarantee by income or not.
Your student got a terrific music award. Congratulations to this fine musician! As you know, private conservatory costs are very high. Does this school not have any student housing? It sounds like you are anticipating rent, other living costs, and food. Is that correct? If so, he should reach out to the school regarding potential roommates.
Then again…if there are RAs….there must be some student housing. Is that a $25,000 a year cost?
Don’t count on RA positions. They are highly competitive.
When you completed your FAFSA form, what was your EFC? It sounds like you are saying you can’t afford this cost, and hoped to rely on music merit to pay the full cost of attendance. While some students get these very high awards, most don’t.
Does he have multiple options from which to choose?
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His total Direct Loan for freshman year is $5500, not $3000. No more than $3500 can be subsidized. He should ask the financial aid office(s) how he can get the total freshman direct loan amount of $5500.
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A few more thoughts.
Just to reiterate what has been mentioned above, a $50,000 per year scholarship is amazing and congratulations to your son. It may be that the school will offer to pay the remaining $5k per year tuition, but to my knowledge, only Colburn and Curtis will provide financial assistance for living expenses.
We are in the second year of our third kid in college. (Two paid for and one to go!) The sticker shock of expenses is daunting, even with essentially a “full ride”.
Our current conservatory student, also has a full tuition scholarship. Remaining cost is around $20-22,000 per year. (Not including transportation to and from school) A strategy I used was to factor in costs which drop off by having him at conservatory versus at home.
So for example, weekly lessons on his instrument, savings on food, cost of car insurance if you have a driver who will not take a car with them, etc. When you deduct these “home expenses” from the sticker price of your school, you have a more accurate projection of what you will actually need to cover.
I hope this helps.
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We did that too. It really helps!
I sent you a private message.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I wish I had known that there was little chance of scholarships that covered room and board when we got started. I would have probably encouraged a few different applications. (like curtis . . . longshot I know). He will get to go somewhere. We have a tuition offer from our hometown music school and the living expenses are far less than the conservatories. We still have not heard from a few schools and I believe the room and board is less at the non-conservatories like Indiana and Michigan . . . so he may have other options if he gets additional tuition offers. (again maybe a longshot I know).
We have still not given up on the conservatories, I just am not sure if I can stomach the cost. My son is the second of soon to be 8, so spending a great deal or all of savings seems like a bad parenting choice at this time.
Thanks for all the great advice.
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