Just FYI re:
“just those already admitted to the school (with SATs in excess of 2000+) not 800 students from around the country who have sent in video prescreens, been reduced to about 400-450, and then reduced to 22 admitted students as is the case with say, Michigan.”
At UMich on-campus auditions this year Brent Wagner stated that audition slots are only offered to students who have already qualified academically. So, each school has its own quirky process.
My advice is to not let the sticker price scare you away from applying. Prepare yourself for audition season. That’s your focus. Hopefully you will get multiple acceptances, and then you can look at how much these schools are offering, and what the cost will be. With my son, the most expensive school ended up being the cheapest. As far as academics, most of these schools have honors programs that can boost the academics to a more challenging level. And make sure you include a non-audition safety school.
@TapperDad you make great points!!!
I would exercise caution with anecdotes like this. Assuming that we are talking about only merit/talent awards, it is certainly possible for this to occur, but it depends on which schools are “most expensive” and which schools are “cheapest.” For example if your “most expensive” schools are in the set including {Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, Boco, Michigan, or Syracuse} and your least expensive schools are in the set {Texas State, Montclair, Coastal Carolina, Florida State, or Wright State}, this is going to be highly unlikely to be true. Texas State and Montclair offer in-state tuition for MT students, FSU offers in-state plus scholarships for good grades and test scores, and Wright State offers substantial R&B discounts which drop costs to below $20,000 and possibly below $15,000 per year for tuition plus R&B. Those numbers are very difficult for schools with “list prices” in excess of $45,000 to match or beat.
My D received several Presidential Scholarships and talent awards that moved her numbers for some schools fairly dramatically, but in no case did very expensive schools ($45,000+) move below $24,000 per year, while some $25,000-$32,000 schools moved to less than $15,000 per year. She received some excellent scholarships from expensive schools that discounted tuition by more than 40%, but that only brought the costs down to the mid-$30’s.
Her cheapest school was less than $10,000 after scholarships, but the list price began at less than $20,000.
A “most expensive school” ending up being cheapest is most likey to occur if the differential between highest and lowest is not too dramatic.
Of course, anything is possible. It all depends on what your set of schools are and what the academic and talent levels of your student are.
If need-based aid and/or loans are figured in, then the situation will become more variable. Our EFC was too high for need-based aid to be a factor, something that I believe is fairly common on this forum.
This thread contains estimates of cost after average merit/talent awards (assuming no need-based aid or loans):
My school is $53K and we are paying around $20,000 a year. That was the cheapest of anywhere for us—all the rest except one were mid-30s.
And if you are National Merit - commended, semi-finalist, finalist, or achievement - be sure to check out all your options. Awards (no needs-based component) can range from $0 up to full ride. A few schools may even stack talent awards on top of that (S has “extra” money in his bank account after all semester invoices are paid. Doesn’t cover parent’s parking tickets however, dang it). And adding to @EmsDad point, the best bang for National Merit buck will tend to be at schools that are less expensive to begin with (CCM would be one in the middle of the pack that gives excellent National Merit scholarships.) and perhaps less difficult to get into academically. I know, we all want our “bright stars” to go to an academically challenging school, but if the dream is to be an MT actor, being able to graduate debt free - or better yet being able to “bank” that college money for professional “starving artist” expenses (or grad school) - cannot only be cheapest, but for some may be “smartest”.
@EmsDad even though your D is heading to college…Do not ever leave CC!! You always have great information that is already complied together and keep the dialogue realistic…
Is there really any money for NM commended students? I thought that was little more than a pat on the back.
@tarheelMTMa - can’t speak for other schools, but Wright State offers full ride - IS tuition - w/R&B to commended students. Schools considered “less difficult” to get into academically are often trying to attract more competitive students. This is often true for non-NM students who have other good stats. These schools will also generally give more “bang for the buck” when it comes to AP/IB credit. Many bright kids who eat, sleep and breathe singing, dancing, acting, playing instruments, composing/arranging music, doing sketch comedy, costume/set design, directing, choreographing, etc. may not have much time for academics that just get in the way of their preferred learning. There are many ways to learn all life, history, science has to offer. For some 19-year-olds, being in a college academic class is not the best method - or time in their lives - to gain that knowledge. The learning found in theater/Arts-related experiences can cover A LOT of what is NOT found in much of today’s academic college classes. Just because a “gifted” student is not taking academic classes at a “most difficult” school, does not mean their learning is stagnated.
Dag, didn’t mean to say that much. Anyway, NM commended students can do VERY well at some schools with MT programs. How’s that?
There is a fascinating thread on the featured threads list that pulled me in the other day. “How to deal with disappointment in your kid’s college decision” (still in the sidebar to the left as I type this). While I have spent a TON of time on CC- very little has been anywhere but the MT/Theater forum - and this opened up a whole new (and amusing to me) world!
^^^ @toowonderful: “Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel” (Greener’s Law) has a corollary: “Never pick a fight with someone who has 16,455 CC posts.”
That thread is pretty amazing: “Duck season” - “Wabbit season” - “Duck season” - “Wabbit season.”
Thanks a lot @toowonderful for luring me to the edge of that black hole - as a former NM finalist MSU grad married to an MSU grad - who was encouraged to apply for a Rhodes scholarship, but declined - I can only say, “Ouch” and “Wow”. What was I thinking, “letting” all three of my Ss pursue degrees in the Arts? At schools we can afford, no less (“Lazy” NM semifinalist 2nd S was accepted to all “tippy-top-tier” Visual Art schools he applied to, but commutes to local art academy). A whole family of slackers. Now I can only think of “what COULD have been” and “what will never be”. Dag. Is it too early to open a bottle of wine?
@mom4bwayboy- just passing along the pain 
after all, my kid turned down Northwestern too!
But in truth- the various viewpoints and “realities” are fascinating to me
Not sure what some of the initials stand for what is NM student and what is R&B??
NM = National Merit
R&B = Room and Board
Get ready to learn a whole new language: SSAR, EFC, NACAC, URM …
SSAR = Self-reported Student Academic Record (enter your own transcript!)
EFC = Expected Family Contribution (I am in denial and I always get this one wrong)
NACAC = National Association For College Academic Counselors (the “May 1 Rule”)
URM = Under-represented Minority
NM = National Merit; R&B = Room & Board (at least I THINK that’s what it means. I “stole” it from someone else’s post). Took me a LONG time to get down my “initial lingo”. I still have to look up the common texting ones - or pretend I know what they mean (like R&B - Rabbits & Breakfast? Rhythm & Blues? Relax & Binge?. . . ).
@EmsDad & @mom4bwayboy Thank you!! I knew they would make sense but couldn’t figure it out!! lol!!!
Lots to learn…met with college office at high school and I knew much more than she did! Thanks in part to this forum!
OMG, @toowonderful, my finger twitched on that thread, but I took Emsdad’s advice…
A wise plan @calliene
I think CMU is an example of an MT program where the overall stats of the university are not at all relevant to the incoming MT class, true? For that reason it might not be as high on the list for kids seeking both stong MT training AND strong academics (I know it was low on D’s list). Not sure if the same is true of USC’s BFA?