@NYsaxmom well D hasn’t made a decision yet so…right now it is very much up in the air. But yes, I can confirm Frost definitely makes the short list.
Yes, passing you all the virtual bottle right now while you finish up making decisions! Thank you for sharing your process.
Choosing a less academic school for an academic and quirky music kid especially in the name of budget is something I’ve thought about too. My fear is kid would decide to change or double major and then be unhappy with the academics and not find a geeky/quirky enough peer group? And then there can be all sorts of money loss with a transfer - loss of credits, inability to get freshman financial incentives, etc.
“Choosing a less academic school for an academic and quirky music kid especially in the name of budget is something I’ve thought about too.” This is a great point!
To lighten the mood (if the bottle has run out) is this hilarious Onion article from 4/1/16: Failure to Get Into Private College Most Financially Responsible Act of 17 Year Old’s Life. (While a satire - lots of truth here!)
https://local.theonion.com/failure-to-get-into-private-college-to-be-most-financia-1819578749
@buoyant Thanks for posting the Onion article. I love that!
We have been so blessed to find some very generous schools. But this is now the dilemma my D faces (but she realizes how fortunate she is):
- University of Miami, Frost School of music
$10,430 (academic) + $48,720 (music) + $1470 (need based) + $6630 (Florida bright futures program = $67,250.
Total cost of attendance (including all fees) = $68458
D’s cost to attend every year = $1208 - University of Denver, Lamont School of Music
$48,000 (music) + $1370 (need based) = $49370
Total Cost of attendance (includes all fees) = $67,727
D’s total cost every year = $18,357 - Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins
$32,000 (Premier music scholarship) + $3470 (need based) = $35970
Total cost of attendance (incl. all fees) = $70,272
D’s total cost per year = $34,757 (I know this would drop significantly if we were to contact them) - Florida State University:
$3000 (Premier music scholarship) + $6516 (Full tuition through Florida bright futures) = $9516
Total cost of attendance (incl. all fees) = $21683
D’s total cost every year = $12,167 - University of South Florida:
$8494 (academic) + $2500 (Premier music scholarship) + $5170 (need based) + $6410 (Florida bright futures program) = $22,574
Total Cost of attendance (incl. all fees) = $22,518
D’s total cost each year = $0 - Belmont University offered half tuition but that is out of the running
- Vanderbilt, Blair School of music, her dream school. Here they pretty much only do need based aid.
The total cost of attendance = approx $69,000
Freshman year her aid is $60,942 so her cost would be about $10k which is wonderful and we absolutely can manage, but sophomore year it looks like that would jump to about $34k. Junior and senior year would be unknown and that scares me. I have an email in to them and waiting for a reply
Still waiting to hear from Lynn Conseratory. They say the result will come “some time in April”
Wow @NYsaxmom – a thousand congrats to you and D! That Frost offer would be hard to turn down. Fingers crossed for Vanderbilt if that’s her favorite. Such good news!
Wow @NYsaxmom thanks for sharing all that! You have some great options! I thought Vanderbilt did music merit at times? That is a really weird financial package. I hope you get some positive answers from them. That one is on our radar. The Frost offer - amazing!
Congratulations, @NYsaxmom ! I can definitely see how that would be a very difficult choice. All the best to you and your D!
Thanks for sharing the specific figures of the aids given by the various music institutes! The information is truly helpful to future applicants.
Big congratulations to your D @NYsaxmom, and thanks for your generosity in sharing specific package details. Your D’s offers remind me a lot of my D’s packages last year, and this is what I meant when I mentioned way up the thread that our offers were “all over the place”. Families who are looking forward to this process in the coming years may want to note that @NYsaxmom ‘s D received far better overall offers at some more prestigious programs, and much less tempting offers (in a few cases) at safer programs. This is what we experienced too, and for us was unexpected. Also note that the music scholarship amounts at a few programs (State Schools?) are significantly lower than might otherwise be expected (compared to other awards), and that academic or stats based awards are more significant at those schools (notable for families of lower and higher stats kids, alike). And awards from prestigious, meets-need schools can be stellar! Your post is so helpful in showing other families the sorts of amazingly varied offers a top candidate can expect to receive, and illustrates why it is so important to diversify your college list if finances are a major consideration! Best of luck in making a hard, but exciting, choice!
@dramasopranomom @MusakParent and @ compojazzmom thank you.
Having had 4 kids go through this process over a 10 year period I have learned to let them "reach for the stars’ as you never know!! State schools have much less money to give but I think proportionately it ends up similar. Plus depedning on your state, there can be other incentives. I know how stressful this journey is, and if it hadn’t been for college confidential over the years I would’ve been in the dark. I didn’t have this for my first son but became a member with my second son. because of the advice we lucked out with him and he had a full tuition scholarship to Frost. We lived in NY at the time so didn’t get the FL resident extras.My third son was a terrible student but an amazing musician so my journey with him was much different and again CC was a great help. Now my daughter is very different again. Plus they all played different instruments!! This community is awesome. So supportive.
@MusakParent I think Vandy does a rare merit package, but need based is the majority. The problem then is it takes away from your need based. They don’t layer like other schools but add it to your income.
I did receive an email from Vandy a little while ago telling me they are looking into things and to be patient.
Last year, we found the offers to be more consistent than I’m seeing here (but none as generous as some listed here, darnit! 
). That consistency might be because all four were pricey private schools ranging from 60K-73K in initial cost of attendance; they were offered to my son at a range from 26K-31K (which put all four in line with our in-state public school COAs). I always say: don’t overlook the pricey privates, as they tend to have more money to share!
They did come in with widely varying academic vs music merit offers, though–from all music dollars at one to all academic dollars at another (which we knew in advance would be the case for both). The other two were combinations.
Interestingly the offers didn’t at all correlate to the initial costs of attendance; the “cheapest” initial COA, for instance, actually ended up the priciest COA to him.
@bouyant - I love the onion…it’s my dream job! I actually attached that once on CC during this time of the year too. So funny…and so true!!!
My S18’s music merit results were very much coordinated with his academic merit. Some schools which gave him high academic merit awards did not give him much music merit, and vice versa. Some results:
FSU: OOS tuition waiver, invited to upcoming Presidential Scholarship weekend for another $4800 per year plus $12,000 summer study stipend, with NMF scholarships will be a full ride; $500 music scholarship. COA (tuition, fees, room and board)-free
Miami-Frost: full tuition I. Singer Scholarship, no music merit. COA-$15,000
USC-Thornton: half-tuition NMF Presidential scholarship, $3,750 University Scholarship; $10,000 Thornton music scholarship. COA-$30,000
Loyola-NO: $23,000 academic merit and additional merit from state TOPS program, $10,000 music merit. COA-$11,000
Furman: $5,000 academic merit, $30,000 music merit. COA-$27,000
I had no idea there were such huge discrepancies, or that increases from appeals were generally so small. Seems more important than ever to apply to a wide range of schools and prepare your D/S for the possibility that the choices might vary widely.
@YertleTurtle completely agree!!!
@vistajay we are facing similar decisions
@NYsaxmom , at this point we have made the financial decisions. Where he goes will depend on his voice teacher placement, and where he feels most comfortable. I have my prediction as to where he will land, but it is still shifting, week to week and visit to visit, so I will not hazard a public guess.
@vistajay My S is considering applying to some of schools on your list, USC-Thornton and Miami-Frost to be specific. I’m interested in knowing the minimum academic requirements for their half/ full scholarship. Seems the statistics are not posted on their websites. I think my son needs a target to work towards especially regarding his SAT. Appreciate it if you could PM me.