Luther just has a BA music program. However, I do know one alumna who used “Bachelor of Music” to describe the program.
Luther is a BA program, but they have several alumni singing opera professionally right now. D liked the school and the town, but ultimately wanted a bachelor of music. Luther was one of the friendliest schools we visited
Dumb question: what is considered a “generous” scholarship? I’ve heard everything from 5-35k!
I suppose “generous” is different for each family. Max talent scholarship was not enough for D to attend Lawrence. To me - generous means a possibility of full tuition
As someone who is spectating for next year, I really like to see the range of what’s available from schools that give merit. If a school comes into the range of our public flagship options at around 30K, it is a realistic option to consider. I suspect everyone maybe has a different opinion on what generous means. For private schools, schools that give 1/3 tuition or more for talent and/or merit and possibly stacks might be generous. So for those who are doing this right now, don’t be shy about sharing please! 
I think it’s even interesting to know what programs were particular un-generous when you have a bunch of other great offers on the table.
I do know people who’ve gone to Lawrence for less than the price of UW-Madison or UMN-TC, which for us is generous enough to consider applying and trying at least since those are our “cheap” options sadly. Especially since my kid will be at higher than their 75% for test scores.
For us, as school qualifies as generous if they do indeed give full tuition music merit to some students. That’s approximately what it would take for a school to be affordable to us and comparable to our in state options.
@akapiratequeen it’s an excellent question. The answer is personal…and it trips me up often as I do forget sometimes that my reality isn’t everyone’s reality…oops.
To me generous is about COA. I can’t get beyond that bc it is my constraint. So I felt generous was a COA close to in-state tuition. At first I thought it would be below in-state as my D was so amazing! But alas there are many talented kids with strong (but not stellar) academics. So then I thought…ok…in-state tuition at a fancy school. But the fancy schools in the 70k range per year just didn’t seem like they were going to get me to 25K…without some academic hook or a Hail Mary in vocal talent.
So just like my D’s curfew in high school, I had to move the line of generous back. Then it became…sure I guess I should pay a premium for this LAC or big U or a private that often gave big awards. It’s an amazing program so…yea a small premium over in-state would be generous. Then I hit the limit of my pocket book … 5k over in-state. My D had offers for in-state up to about 33K a year I think. Of course that was 7 years ago. And she was good enough to be accepted to select programs, often got academic dollars and music merit where available…but no free rides (even though I’m quite sure she deserved them).
I have inappropriately called schools stingy bc of my pocketbook. Still if a school that costs 70K a year gives me 10K or even 20K leaving me with 50K plus a year, the only generous person in that scenario is me! But that’s opinion. If you start thinking college will cost 50k a year (as opposed to 25k) you would rightfully feel that as generous
This does not consider FA. But I believe that’s covered up thread.
@MusakParent my guess is a general music admit will be looking at a premium over in-state for Lawrence.
@MusakParent and I did mean “general” music admit - not your kid. Your kid could get an amazing offer. You never know.
Still be aware that getting music admits is not easy and almost all kids will be talented with good academics. The “pool” will look a lot like your kid. Can everyone get free tuition? Someone has got to pay…or most have to pay something. I don’t know any kid entering one of these programs who doesn’t “freak out” a bit over the talent level in freshman year. Almost all admits were top at their school, top in their special music programs and some have natl awards. Keep the pool in mind when thinking about chances for free tuition. It does happen; and did happen this year. But many very talented admits pay some tuition.
On Lawrence’s NPC, I am getting about 27K as our projected COA and we are full pay almost everywhere? That is with a projected 33 ACT and high GPA however. So maybe it’s academic merit and obviously they cannot factor in music merit on the NPC. I know they do not stack, and maybe the larger music awards are more competitive.
Anyway - thanks to those of you who have been forthcoming with merit info, it really is helpful to those of us coming up behind you trying to make lists!
I would guess you’re in the ballpark. I think it’s quite safe if you are looking at 30K. Also st olaf and Oberlin would be safe bets too in that price range. You can always have a couple spotty ones bc you never know. But around 30k up to 35k you could have a nice list of schools that with acceptance most will probs be in range…or maybe a surprise or two.
This is so helpful. 30k and maybe a bit more is what we’re hoping for. The NYC area is so expensive, even our state schools are close to that. If we can get a private school or excellent state school in the range we will call it a win!
So far looking at Ithaca, Berklee, possibly Eastman and/or Peabody. Will visit Mason Gross at Rutgers to see what he thinks as a backup. He wants both performance and education, and a good jazz program. Northeast as a preference but he’d look west and maybe a bit south. Can’t get him interested in FL unfortunately.
Our state options are close to 30K too so anything that might possibly come in range of that is something we would consider. I have my practical parental eye on our 2 state options, Lawrence, St. Olaf, Oberlin, Frost, UDenver. Maybe Luther and/or a smaller directional U as a safety.
My kid is dreaming about USC, Steinhardt, Harvard/Berklee dual degree, UChicago(BA - with hand picked music teachers), Northwestern. Maybe DePaul (academically not a problem, we were quoted as 14% acceptance to music school, questionable merit possibilities). Possibly Rice or Vanderbilt.
My kid is looking at VP. But he also plays piano at an advanced level, is interested in composition/songwriting, and also plays guitar. His background is classical, but he does a lot of theater and has doodled in contemporary. He is most comfortable auditioning classical but I think his music path will be his own. I don’t think he’d like a rigid, conservatory only program. He’s also academic. He’s dual enrolled this year and has really enjoyed all his classes. Zero interest in a gap year. Finding a quirky, geeky, music peer group will be important.
Your first list of schools is very doable in that price range. And in the second list you have correctly identified, imho, ones that could accept but break your heart in the end. Nevertheless they are schools to drill down on and see if people may PM you with info. People do get scholarships at these schools. The trick is to figure out the general amts with any FA and how academics impacts it… then decide the best fits and roll the dice. You never know.
Edit @MusakParent I think you are in mn sitting in your house mad about the weather! I ran the lakes this morning and almost got frostbite. At least it’s sunny…but I’m not putting a toe outside after thawing out from this morning. I’m like an angry caged bear!
LOL @bridgenail you got that right and I’m with you! I just got grumpy driving my kids around to all their music stuff in the snow! Stay warm.
@bridgenail Do you see Oberlin in the “practical” category? My understanding was it was a very very tough admit. And that Steinhart was actually easier – of course there’s the money piece at NYU, but very high academics and/or special interests might get you there.
We will have 3 kids in college at the same time. As my husband says - well, it was SOMEONE’S plan. Eldest is an engineering major with a great scholarship at a distant state school - we pay about $14k/year. That set the bar for the other 2.
That is comparable to the offer D got from UNT (and she hopes to eventually be an RA to further bring that cost down). Her other favorite school is DePauw - which gave her about 2/3 tuition in talent. Lawrence offered half tuition, which is as high as they go. Total Luther package was about $30K in academic, music, and theater scholarships stacked. Baldwin Wallace offered 17K in academic scholarships only, guess they have enough coloraturas and their tuition is a little less. Simpson gave an endowed talent scholarship of over $30K - but it is too small, though she adored the teacher she worked with. High school never sent transcripts to SUNY Purchase (!!!), so we are still waiting for an official offer from them- but D did not like the school. Their out of state tuition is only around $!8k.
I need to stop harassing the child every time I see her - but she needs to decide ASAP if she is going to try ask DePauw for more money. At her sample lesson, the head of voice department told her to negotiate if she needed more scholarship money. D just needs to decide if she wants a large program with 4 professional quality operas a year and a teacher who sang at the Met, or a small school where she would get more personal attention and do fewer shows but the possibility of larger roles.
@akapiratequeen - I was assuming acceptances and then referencing general scholarship amts I have heard/gleaned…dangerous territory but someone has to live dangerously! As for acceptance, I leave that up to teacher recommendations and assume a smart list will yield a handful of acceptances with general scholarship amts to follow…and possibly a surprise or two (good or bad). I also assume people know that I’m no expert…just nosy. And will use my opinion with other opinions. I would have found some guidance from past parents helpful.
It wasn’t the acceptance at NYU that was in question (however questionable) it was the affordability after scholarship if you want to get to 30K per year in general. There are always possibilities and large scholarships particularly with great academics and of course FA. So as always a general opinion.
@bridgenail That makes total sense!
I don’t consider any of the auditioned schools I mentioned safeties at all! I suspect it can vary widely year to year even at state school. Just that the ones that we’re looking at MAY come in range for price for our situation. I’m definitely taking notes here as schools come up. If we came in around 14K my husband would be beyond thrilled! Those are some amazing offers cgmndt! We have another kid coming up 3 years behind our junior too.
Knowing our financial situation, daughter only auditioned at schools where she was likely to get in with scholarship offers. She also had Simpson and Luther as non-audition safeties. I was sure there would be a glut of coloraturase her year, there is no way to know if the school will need a particular instrument that year… I do think she would have been happy at Luther, but she ultimately decided she did not want a BA in music.
We went to a college fair at the Classical Singer convention - D was able to cross some schools off of the list from that. NEC actually shrugged when we asked about scholarships - complete turn off
No decision here - but my husband and I are pulling for UNT. Excellent reputation, cheapest cost, wide variety of musicians