| You are in the same boat as many, many people. Too rich for financial aid, too poor for pay without pain. If your MT student has high grades and stats, it seems to me that there are a number of merit awards out there as some of the schools with MT programs are eager to bring up those SAT scores of the school. From what I can gather, the more generous awards are not from the department but from the school itself. A kid with a 1400 SAT is usually not going to apply to Emerson, so if he does, he will likely get some merit money even if he is applying as a MT major. Harrt, OCU, Elon, CCM, just to name a few, all offer merit money, and it can be generous. The talent awards that I have seen that are departmentally offered tend to be below $5K; where I see kids make out is if they have good academic stats. So alot of the MT and drama programs are good bets for merit packages for such students. Also there are a number of such schools with relatively low sticker prices. That with the loans, may get you through. I know my friend was seriously considering SUNY Buffalo for her son who has gotten into a number of programs because as NY state resident, the cost would be very low, plus I believe he got some merit money there. State schools with programs can be a good consideration. Our state has a small program within its theatre program that offers some excellent opportunities and for us it would have been free as S got a full academic scholarship there. If cost and budget are big issues, a few financial goodies like that need to be added to the choices. Otherwise, MT colleges are paid for the same way you pay for any colleges. The private ones tend to be very, very expensive unless you get a good financial aid or merit award. Your state schools are less, and there some low sticker price schools out there as well with good theatre programs where you may be able to put together a good MT regiment. |