<p>Yes, NMR, a full ride! Pretty cool huh :D. </p>
<p>Going back to OP's question which schools are generous, in my D's case, she was offered a full ride by Point Park (BFA), an 'almost' full ride by Marymount Manhattan (BA), and large academic scholarships by both Webster & Pace University. Although accepted at Elon, she did not receive any scholarships there. </p>
<p>Her test scores were not all that 'out of this world', and so her academic scholarships are from schools where the "academic bar" is not necessarily way up there. You will find that lots of schools do offer academic scholarships for those that qualify, some will also offer talent scholarships. </p>
<p>I think that if students, and parents, have spent some time reading the discussions here on CC surrounding financial aid and scholarships for theatre kids, they should have a pretty good idea, anecdotally, of which schools are "generous" as was the OP's question, and which are not. Many merit scholarships, even for theatre kids, are focussed more on academic merit than talent, which is also something to keep in mind, and many/most have a definite financial need component involved in the granting. </p>
<p>From the years I've been reading CC discussions, I have noticed, probably every year, discussions about the amounts awarded at OCU. CCM also has a good amount of $$ to give to its top applicants. We know kids who have received scholarship $$ at many of the schools discussed here but I would hesitate to make a blanket statement about any of them being generous. This is particularly true about NYU. The student that MTgrlsmom cited may, indeed, have received a full ride but he's the only student I have ever heard of to do so, not only at Tisch but at any other NYU college as well. My D was there for four years and we've known several other Tisch kids for probably ten years prior to her being there, in addition to dozens of others who have been in Stern, CAS and Steinhardt. None, regardless of need, received anything close to a full ride. My point is that no one should take reports of one such award as meaning that the school is generous. With NYU, its reputation is actually the opposite. An average financial aid award of ~$20,000 at a school that will cost over $50,000/yr., much of it in loans, should not be considered generous by applicants who are going to need a good amount of f/a in order to attend.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, schools can provide you with an overview of this type of information. When you visit, make sure that this question is on your list, and find out what criteria are used in determining the rewards. If you aren't visiting all the schools on your list, then communicate with someone at the school in order to get your questions answered. This is the kind of information that should be obtained early in the process to help applicants determine what schools should be on the list.</p>
<p>I also have never heard of a full ride at NYU. Also, the definition of full ride differs from person to person. A full ride could mean a FA package that covers the cost of attending but the package has scholarships, grants, loans and work study rolled into it. I haven't heard of scholarships to NYU being higher than $25,000/year, but the rest may be covered by loans, including low cost loans such as Perkins and Stafford Loans. In my own kid's case, while the four year scholarship awarded at admission time was significant in amount, and she has gotten a few other scholarships from the school this year as well, there were also Perkins and Stafford Loans (let alone Parent Loans we also took out). NYU does not meet 100% need based aid.</p>
<p>Alright, so this thead has been super helpful, as I am still waiting to hear what my "package" is from the schools I was accepted at.</p>
<p>I've read here the UArts tends to be generous with need-based financial aid. I guess I'm trying to find out HOW generous? Tuition is over 3 times more than my current university, but I'm incredibly willing to make things work to go there.</p>
<p>For those who have children accepted at UArts, what sort of need-based money did you see?</p>
<p>My D received initially $2000 a year renewable from CCM in a Cincinnatus not need based at all (we aren't eligible.) We didn't attend the scholarship weekend, and after she was admitted to CCM, they automatically sent us a letter advising us that since we were going to pay out of state tuition, they would up her award to $5,000 a year renewable. This scholarship was not that hard to get, and made CCM the second cheapest of the schools my D has gotten into (right after UCLA, which is our local public school.) CCM is now only about $8 to 10 thousand more than UCLA, which is not that bad considering.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted to the dance program at UArts. She received a generous merit scholarship but no real need based money. I knew she wouldn't when she did her FAFSA, however like a lot of folks the FAFSA says one thing and reality says another.</p>
<p>tucker92 when did your d audition? My d auditioned on the 21st, but has not heard anything back yet. Do you happen to know what part of the audition determines scholarship offerings…is it the classes or their two minute solo, or a combination of both? My d said there was only one staff member watching and judging her solo which seems odd to me.</p>
<p>katd, I think the audition as a whole determines the scholarship thing. I am pretty sure that the auditors grade the kids on some kind of scale.</p>
<p>One important thing to keep in mind is that at some schools you can negotiate. This is particularly true when it comes to a private school. One school that my D got into last year only offered 2K, I E-mailed the chair and told him she had 5 other offers and asked if he could do any better. He then found another 2K that he said another student declined. As the timeline for a decision escalated I called and complained to the Financial Aid office that our share was well above our EFC and they seemed to find another 9K in grant money that was available. I was also able to get two other schools to slightly increase their offers. Don’t be afraid to call the Financial Aid office and review your specific situation, if they’ve made you an offer to join their MT program odds are they are willing to work with you to make that happen. Generally I found that the public schools are on strict budgets so only a few select kids receive merit scholarships from them. I also found that most schools will only give you a talent award or an academic award not both. Any of this can change from year to year especially with the money drying up due to the economy.</p>
<p>Baymom posted earlier and I will confirm, IWU is very generous. My D received a very generous talent award and additional Grant money to meet our EFC.</p>
<p>To Tucker92: Could you tell me more about UARTS dance program? What you thought of the school? And what about the fact that they only offer housing to freshman? My daughter is scheduled to audition there this month but we have reservations about this. She’s been accepted to PP and will likely go (also to Hartt but too expensive).
UArts is out of budget as well, so I am also wondering what the possibility is of a big merit award. SHe’d need about 14K. I am thinking that’s unlikely.
Please email or post any feedback. I appreciate it! We’re trying to decide whether to travel to the audition.</p>
<p>My daughter auditioned at her top choice and was accepted. Unfortunately, the cost of attendance is about $4,000 more than what they have listed on their site…which has the cost from two years ago! With the small scholarship and loan awarded, it is still out of reach. EFC seems to be far beyond what is reasonable and smart.</p>
<p>Hi Writingmore. My D just auditioned for the dance program at UArts on March the 21st and absolutely loved it, but she has not heard anything back yet. She is a very stong dancer with an excellent academic record as well, so I will be very surprised if she does not get in. However, from the research I have done in regards to merit scholarship offerings from UArts the most they give is 14K, and I don’t believe they offer academic and merit scholarships together…it is one or the other. (someone correct me if this is not the case). My D will have to get a hefty offer in order to attend this school. (I doubt she will since she auditioned so late). With that being said, it is my undertanding that the last audition date to be considered for a merit scholarship was on March 21st. (this is per their website).</p>
<p>Writingmore, after posting what I said above…I went back and read their webiste, and I was not completely correct about stating “the last auditon date to be considered for a merit scholarship was March 21st”. Here is the exact wording about this taken from the UArts website. <em>To be eligible for priority talent scholarship consideration, you must apply for admission by March 15 and audition prior to April 1.</em></p>
<p>Thank you for the info. I did send an email asking about possible scholarships as I don’t want to set my daughter up for another disappointment, nor waste our time going there.<br>
I was also concerned about the no meal plan. This sounds like it would complicate living there and raise the cost. In addition, they are not likely to get on campus housing beyond freshman year (They said about 25% of upperclassmen win the housing lottery).</p>
<p>My D’s lowest award was from Hartt – apparently because the conservatory students only get talent awards and aren’t offered any academic scholarships. This makes Hartt much more expensive than her other options that combined talent and academic money. She hasn’t heard from Webster yet but she received a very generous academic award – so if she was accepted to the acting program it would be the most affordable option. Both Illinois Wesleyan and Point Park combined academic and talent awards to also provide more affordable options. Point Park also provides scholarships for community involvement which isn’t alot, but adds to the total. Her final option is USC BA which will be very expensive since she didn’t receive any scholarship there – will need to pay full retail!!! I wasn’t aware when we started that some schools just provide talent and others combine talent and academic. With strong grades and test scores, the academic awards at some of these schools are quite generous – but the talent scholarships alone not as much, at least for her.</p>
<p>My daughter qualifies for $15,000 academic scholarship at the University of Hartford, but because she would be going to Hartt she only qualifies for $7000. I underderstand where you are coming from IMHopeful.</p>
<p>We just received a good packet for MT at UArts. Be patient…it might work out as it just has for us. I’m happy with no meal plan…it will up the cost for freshman year, but will enable them to eat better…rather than paying for cafeteria food that I know my kid doesn’t like. We’ll be working this summer on eating well on a budget!! Good luck…stay positive…UArts sounds great. We’re thrilled</p>
<p>mountaintime - My D will be at UARTS for the month of July doing the MT precollege program. She will also have to learn to eat on a budget during that month which I think will be good preparation for her when she goes to college in a year and a half. She really only eats pretty plain, basic food and lots of fruit and veggies. I am glad she will get to fend for herself during that month as I think it will be great practice!</p>