helicoptermom24

My daughter has been dancing for over 11 years and we would like to know if there is any schools to which she can apply to get some dance merit scholarship money.

frazzled1

Two schools I know of with excellent dance programs that offer merit scholarships are Mercyhurst and Point Park. Are you talking about academic merit or talent scholarships? Several of my d's friends received talent scholarships from Mercyhurst (I believe in the amount of $10K/year).

Muhlenberg in Allentown, PA is an excellent liberal arts college with a good dance program, though I think most of the professional-track performers are in the musical theater program (just an impression). It has some generous academic merit scholarships for high-achieving applicants. It likes to accept students ED; as of 2008, merit scholarship candidates needed to do an on-campus interview. This may have changed.

Dickinson in Carlisle, PA is another very strong LAC that awards merit aid. It has a tie-in with Central Pennsylvania Ballet.

helicoptermom24

I am speaking about talent scholarship.

dancerinpa

Hi,
Shenandoah university is very generous with academic and dance money. If you are accepted as a BFA student they are very generous. Not so much with the BA. My dd got both academic and dance money. It has made affording college very nice!

MomOf3Stars

My DD received a nice scholarship offer from University of the Arts. She has friends that also go there/have graduated from there that received dance scholarships as well. My impression from what was said at the audition and from the other students we know is that there could also be academic scholarship money coming in the final package. We have not gotten that yet so I cannot confirm this firsthand.

quilll

NYU Tisch School of the Arts awarded a talent scholarship to my daughter with her acceptance. I can't say it made all that much of a dent in the tuition bill, but still it was nice. University of Utah's ballet department awards talent scholarships, and there are also academic awards from the university itself. Those are the only ones I have personal experience with.

keepingcalm

Point Park gives both academic and talent scholarships. The total amount of scholarship a student can receive is split between the two, so my DD got a high academic scholarship and less talent. A friend who received no academic award got a very high talent award. Their website lists the amounts. Beyond this through FAFSA she received additional grant money which made the total tuition/room and board affordable.

lzntexas

SMU in Dallas Texas also offers scholarships both for academics as well as dance. They also are good about allowing 2nd majors outside of dance which is nice.

mommafrog

One thing we found through the audition/application process is that talent money is often limited -- one school announced to d that she had received their maximum dance talent scholarship...of $1000 a year. Academic merit scholarships tended to be higher, and some were automatic, based on GPA/test scores. In addition, there are often scholarship competitions at schools, involving more essays (oh boy -- more essays!), an on campus interview, etc -- and those can be very helpful.

One thing d noticed throughout her year of auditioning and decision-making was that scholarship offers changed, and sometimes increased. Both Point Park and Pace (they have a commercial dance major) offered increased talent scholarships over their initial offer in d's acceptance letter when she wrote them to decline.

You can also look outside of the schools themselves for scholarships for dancers. Harlequin flooring (makers of the marley floors in dance studios!) offers scholarships to dancers every year, and it's a random drawing (no dreaded essays!). Not a ton of money, but every bit helps.

firstlast

Muhlenberg College awards talent awards up to $4000 per year. They also give generous merit aid and need based aid as well. The talent grants are awarded after an on campus audition.

dancerinpa

HI. My dd goes to Shenandoah University. She is a BFA in dance. She got a very good dance/academic scholarship. They are very generous with dance and academic scholarships. My daughter loves it there and is finishing her Freshman year. They are very busy and perform alot. It is a small school in Winchester, VA. We love visiting there. All of the students are very nice and a close community. Hope this helps.

remidoodle

George Washington University in DC has a great program where you can be a Presidential Arts Scholar.
You can study dance there without an audition, but audition for the scholarship only. It is a significant amount of money, although I can't recall how much. If accepted into the Arts Scholar program you are required to make a commitment to their dance company, but you are also able to double major.

helicoptermom24

Thanks for all the replies. My daughter and I will be looking into all these colleges to make decisions of where to apply...