soozievt

I'd encourage people to apply for financial aid even if they feel they might be over the upper limit....like if in the middle class to upper middle class (whatever that means, I am not even sure myself, but simply saying not low income). Many factors go into the "figuring" and if you have two in college, that also affects the aid. We applied for financial aid (need based) with both our kids and get it. Also, I did not realize until acceptances to the MT BFA programs came last month, but they all seem to give out merit aid too (some based on just academics but some based on talent or both). Most were quite significant. So, it exists ON TOP of financial aid that is needs based.

Jamimom, again your post is right on and so wise, as usual. I do want to tell you that I bet your son would have qualified for merit aid at Syracuse....my D was a Founders Scholar there (as well as selected to Honors College) and that award was $12,000/year and I know, for instance, that your son had higher SAT scores (and lots else going for him). I think you'd be surprised, as I certainly was. Emerson even gave more but I THINK theirs might be needs based so that is not the same point as I was making about Syracuse.

As far as how do some people pay for all this.....just like the original inquiry, we certainly cannot shell out these tuitions for one or now two kids per year at all. After aid and all, it involves a great deal of loans that will be paid for years. The other thing is if your kid is not home any longer, then whatever you spent for them per year for things growing up, you can put toward college (that is not enough but it is something)...like the money spent on lessons or summers and things that people did at various levels for their kids before college. But suffice to say that many of us do not have the money to plop down to the college out of the yearly income that year. Many are not willing to take out the loans and so ask how to come up with the money but some of us really have taken out many college loans and thus will pay it out for the rest of our lives I think!

Susan

happy days

I agree with the message to fill out the FAFSA forms. Even if you don't receive any scholarship money, your student may qualify for work study which will work around your student's schedule and low interest loans that don't have to be paid back until after they graduate.
I am a believer in letting your child major in what ever they want to, but I would also discuss their future earning power as a performer before they take on large student loans. Actor's Equity publishes an annual report that is an eye opener.

soozievt

Happydays, that is a very good point regarding a performer's ability to pay back loans. In my post, however, I was mentioning loans but I should have clarified....not loans for the student. While the aid package had student loans, we plan to pay those for our child. As well, if your aid package is not enough (it never is, lol), parents can take out PLUS loans to pay for the remaining balance (up to the total cost of tuition/room/board) for their student. I am not suggesting this is for everyone but just pointing out that some parents are taking out loans to pay these tuition bills....as well as pointing out that it is worth trying for financial aid even if you are not low income because you may be surprised (unless of course, you are wealthy). Just talking of those in the so called "middle" ....the ones who don't make enough to shell out 40,000+ per year but don't think they are poor enough to qualify for aid because you very well might. Was also trying to explain that not everyone who is sending their kid to an expensive college can afford it but the option of taking out loans as a parent is there.

Susan

jamimom

Susan, don't know about Syracuse. Though S had very high SATs, his gpa was not up there, and a student at his school with the same SATs and slightly higher gpa did not get much merit money, and was turned down by a couple of state schools. Actually, his school would not have an impressive list of kids getting merit aid because the gpas tend to be deflated and non weighted and there are no AP designations given. Some colleges are not set up to look at AP tests taken and those scores and then adjusting the gpas. Don't ask me why they won't do it; they just won't. So you get kids who are rejected by UMich, UVA, Penn State who would not have been, had they gone to most any other school. Few kids go to the larger state school. Syracuse is private so, they just might have made the adjustment, but then I don't think his audition there was that great anyways as I believe it was the first audition for him, and he did it in October. He had visited the school earlier, and hated it (one of those visits to hell stories), but then looked at the school in a whole new light when he revisited for auditions. I do not recommend that school as one of the first auditions to do. Of course all of this is pure speculation since I don't even know if he would have even been accepted at Syracuse for MT, much less get a scholarship. But I am pretty sure that he would have gotten in as almost any other major. And so it goes with many of the schools; probably all of the schools on your D's lists would have definitely been accepts for a non MT program. It was the MT part that made them reaches for anyone. A bad audition, someone who just didn't like the audition, not the right type, etc and that's it with MT.

But had my son gone the MT route, he could have gotten some very nice awards at schools that would not have been on his list had he not been looking at MT programs. Since we did not apply for financial aid, the only type of awards that he could get are academic and most have a gpa/SAT dual requirement where he could meet one threshhold but missed the gpa marks.

laurenz

Susan,

We struck a deal with our son who is attending Emerson, going into his junior year (I can't believe it!). We are paying for part of his education, and he is paying a share (student loans). Fortunately, the college has given him a very nice scholarship which lesses the burden. We wanted him to "own" his education and perhaps value it more because he is paying for it. I know these kids are "driven" and work incredibly hard at what they love, but that added incentive makes it less tempting to cut a class.

Lauren

happy days

This sounds like a good plan to me. We told our s that if he wanted to attend an out of state university that we would support him but that he had to help in some way either thru loans or scholarships. We told him that if he loses his scholarship money he will be returning to an in-state school. It has been a great incentive for him and he has kept his grades up. Another bonus has been that part of the deal to keep his scholarship is to perform so many hours of community service a semester which has been a worthwhile experience for him.
This brings to mind that a good question to ask the university offering scholarship money if it is guaranteed for four years (usually based on meeting a certain GPA) or if the student has to re-apply every year.

lexaj

My d got at nice merit scholarship from OCU and provided she keeps a certain gpa, it is renewable for 4 years. She knows that without this scholarship that she would not be attending OCU, so it really is a good incentive to work hard and keep up her grades. Also, she applied/got accepted to the Honors college, which gives her additional points toward her gpa, so that helps out, too. To help with the rest of the cost (after additional scholarships,etc) we did get a PLUS loan that we will begin making payments on as soon as the money is disbursed, so my d will not graduate with a ton of debt (but we will...of course, we are better able to pay!)

broadwayblondie1

*Stay Healthy!
*Go in there with a POLISHED confident performance
*LOVE your material
*Have at least 3 monologues memorized and performance ready
*audition for a variety of schools... and a lot of schools (i'd say as many as you possibly can)
*work on your physical appearance (start working out, get in shape)
*When in the interview PERSONALITY IS KEY... show them the wonderful, energetic, talented person you really are. Have tons of ENERGY!
*No matter how great you think you are, apply for a variety of schools (a couple top ones, a couple middle, a couple easier ones)
*Don't procrastinate
*Be organized
*Look at the audition as a chance to perform
*Don't let the auditors be the only judges... what does that school have to offer you?!
*and most importantly HAVE FUN! And don't worry too much... a heck of a lot of people make it w/out getting into one of the top-knotch schools.

mommy3

My friend's older child, again, was an A student but did very poorly on all SATs, like about 1120, and ended up with $7,000 from CCM, $7800 from Baldwin Wallace and full tuition to Univ. of Maryland. At first I thought the conservatories have more freedom to only pay attention to talent, but the Univ. of Maryland?

jamimom

Most state schools consider gpa/class rank very heavily. My son and many kids at his private school did not do as well on merit awards because of that, despite very high SAT scores. I am not sure about that full award from UMD; it could well be a combined package of merit within need as I do know that their merit awards have an SAT1 cutoff that is above 1120. You will often hear anecdotes that will belie everything you know. They may or may not be true. Often there is some piece of information missing. I don't know how many times I hear about the merit award or athletic award from a school that I well know does not give money except within the context of need. And, of course, it really doesn't matter what someone else got in the end. It is what your student is likely to get when you try to put together a nice list of prospects where your student will be happy, he will get the training he wants, where he has varying chances of getting in with some sort of safety net and some propect of aid if you need it.

shortnsweet

Going to Syracuse

As far as paying for college. My parents and I are splitting what's left after "my package" of small federal loans, work study a grant and TAP money. I am taking out some of the money in "alternative loans" (payments due after graduation) and my parents are paying for the remainder.

I just hope I have time to even DO work study?!

PS
I agree...NEVER do your first choice as a first audition....and I don't think ED in MT is a good idea either. I did both. I auditioned in November for MT ED got deferred to regular decision...re-auditioned again in January and got offered an Acting spot (which I gladly took) but if I had did regular decision and auditioned later I think I would have done better.

wct

*If you apply to CMU don't misplace your CMU admission ID number. Once you get it via snail mail, put it in a safe place! You will want to have it to access your account info and your CMU decision information. Many students misplaced this number early on and could not check status via the internet.

This is one of the reasons you want a file box handy with a file for each school you are applying to.

freelance

In addition to "actual" file folders,make separate files on your computer for every school. Make a new "Favorites" folder and save all the URLs for schools, audition dates, monolgue info, etc.

Also- Don't forget to plan for the expense of auditions. Flights, car rentals, hotels all add up. You might not need to book a double room if your child ends up spending a night in the dorms with other MT students. Better yet, if you have a friend who lives near the schools you are planning to visit, make sure you give them a heads up on when you are coming to town.

Double and triple check everthing. Make copies. Go over your calender with a magnifying glass. And yes, naggging can be usefull! Colleges and high school administrative offices often drop the ball on that one important piece of info that could be crucial. This past year, one of my D's teachers forgot to send her rec. letter. For one of the apps, I mistakenly forgot to inclose my check (for processing my D's audition!!). This is one time where you need to be obsessive.

shortnsweet

We used a large accordian pocket folder with a tabed pocket for each school, a marble notebook that we broke up with tabs by school for notes (the marble notebook could fit behind the front cover of the accordian) and a hanging calendar just for travel/audition dates. What can I say?.... My mom and I are both organizational freaks!!!!!

grmom

There have been a lot of good tips on this thread, but based on my own experience with my son, there are no absolutes, because:
First audition was to a first choice school (happened to be Syracuse). My son thought it went terribly from the reaction of the auditioners (asked to repeat acting part "this time like you actually mean it"!!!) Plus, it was the most expensive to begin with, and I had heard from various sources that the aid would not be great.
Syracuse ended up not only accepting him, but offered the best financial package.
So, bottom line, apply to a number of schools, make no assumptions either about how you feel the audition went or what the expense may be . . . MT truly is unpredicatable in every way.
It will work out one way or another, and may not be at all what you thought. Don't worry too much about any one aspect of the process, apply anywhere you think you would like to go and without regard to what you hear, and don't give up!