URI has a BA in theatre with minor in music performance. UVM may work.
UMBC and College of Charleston - blue area in red state.
Another southern school but with the action is Loyola of New Orleans and you can cross register at neighboring Tulane. Many race about music there and they have a musical theater degree.
Just thinking out loud.
Potentially non scholarship athletes.
URI is not in a big city…at all. And to get to one…you would need a car.
Was thinking about bing and stony brook for you. Bing has the better theater abs stony brook the better physics but both will be very within budget and great safeties for her.
Yes. But OP is looking for trade offs now. 38 mins to Providence. 24 to Newport.
UVM is small city. They have Bing etc. so they’re putting on the list - not just urban.
So it’s just ideas.
UNH has musical theatre in the liberal arts college so might be a double major set up.
Not in the city although 20 mins from very cool portsmouth.
And there’s a train from the campus right into Boston - that’s the trade off - not in city but Boston accessible.
I might be another for OP to look at. Not saying any need to go on a list.
They can decide.
If Bill Gates and I are having coffee, the “average” net worth of people in the room is in the several billions.
I’m not sure your methodology is sound, but since you’ve got some solid prospects on the list, and it’s only time and money to apply to “not likely to be affordable colleges”- you do you.
Thank you. Yes, I am looking for ideas like this that I might not have thought of, and we are very aware that big city might be one of the compromises we need to make. Hopefully she will get a $25k scholarship to Northeastern and we can call it a day, but we know that is very unlikely and that things will have to be flexible!
There is really no truly effective way to get the info without waiting for actual offers to come in. I think given what info is publically available, it is the best I can do. If you have a suggestion to make it better I am all ears.
The only thing you can do to assure a price point is to apply to schools already at the point (many) or that have auto merit or it’s pretty a sure you’d get merit (a U of SC type).
I noted U Denver yesterday. That’s the type of private - close to downtown with public transport avail that has theater and while not assured merit like a U of SC or Miami Ohio - but with your stats you’d get the max which recently I believe has been $30k + $3k if living on campus. It seems most everyone high stats gets.
As for Northeastern, with a mid single digit acceptance rate, you just need to hope just to get in. The $25k merit would be winning the lottery. Getting in short of an ED - is not easy. And then for some they offer alternative campuses. Just like BU that offers late starts.
yup, totally agree on the unlikelihood of Northeastern, hence the much broader net we are casting. 
The better way of assessing this is that if only 9% of Davidson students get merit aid, your kid isnt getting any, so it doesn’t matter what the average merit aid package is. 91% of students do not get merit aid, and there is nothing you have provided which suggests your student is among the top 9% of students at Davidson. Suggest you redo your list with that in mind
Let me add about Charleston - it’s in city but no clue if it’s right for your kid (it’s an easier admit) and the state red but city very blue.
They have the Fellows Program. My kid is in. I don’t know if all get it but our scholarship is more than tuition.
it’s an invite only thing after the Honors weekend. Other schools have Honors and then sub groups within Honors like this.
At the right schools - not the UNCs of the world - but those second tier schools - with a really academically strong kid and 33 ACT - there might be opportunities - so look at each school for even deeper programs. My daughter’s friend turned down Vandy, Rice, and Penn - so while most students aren’t going to be UNC-ish - there’s always some and if you’re in a small enough cohort, you might find them.
So again - I’m showing Charleston because I have it accessible - but other schools have sub groups - either separate or within Honors - and typically come with more money and maybe even abroad scholarships, etc.
I’ll add there is some time commitment but not a ton. Likely deiends on the school / program.
Charleston Fellows Program - College of Charleston (cofc.edu)
That’s why I only gave it $3000 credit which is basically $0 for any real metric. I’m well aware it means she likely won’t get anything. But merit discounts aren’t really based on the “top 9%” they are based on the 9% the school wants to go there which can be made up of many factors, including geographical area, talent, ethnicity, parental income, zip code, legacy, likelihood of acceptance, and many other metrics other than stats. They aren’t really gold stars for the “best” applicants. They are carrots to try to incentivize certain students to create the class they want.
I recommend spending time choosing schools that are likely admits and affordable.
Once those are chosen then you can add the reaches- U Chicago, Lehigh, Northeastern, UNC etc. Add as many as you want.
Needing merit adds another level of complexity and will mean target schools are a reach.
For Davidson I absolutely agree with you. They want arts students and my son had an amazing visit with the music department. Definitely have her be nominated for the belk scholarship by her school and meet with the theater department so they can pull for her.
Agreed. Unfortunately, there is nothing you have written that would suggest your daughter is unique enough to be included in that 9%. Keep in mind that women make up the majority of applicants at most LACs and have correspondingly lower admission rates.
Thank you!
If $60k isn’t a hard cap what is the actual cap then? It’s hard to hit a moving target. At this point if $60 isn’t a hard cap then is another $20k doable? If so, then why not an Ivy or similar top schools
You still have a lot of schools on your list which is ok but it starts to get difficult after a dozen or so apps. Lots of supplemental essays, interviews and visits.
What if she’s accepted to Norheastern or Michigan or another expensive school? Let’s also say it’s her dream school. Are you prepared to say “sorry but it’s a few thousand over our sort of hard cap”?
This is one reason to set a hard cap. Otherwise it opens the door for some hard feelings and disappointment. Or don’t have a cap.
Fordham actually grants FULL tuition scholarships to selected students with the following awards:
NMSF/NMF
National Recognition Hispanic Scholar
National Recognition African American Scholar
National Recognition Native American Scholar
National Recognition Rural and Small Town Scholar (new this year)
These full tuition awards are NOT automatic. The website says about 3% of the total student population is there on one of these awards.