famousactress2b_

I was just wondering if the cost of the tuition will dictate where you, or your S or D will go? It seems like a lot of the best schools cost A LOT of money!

I got accepted to my dream school but I probably won't be able to attend because of the price. I only got $10,000 in scholarships and it costs about $45,000 a year to attend (with room and board, meal plans and other costs included) It really sucks especially since I'm a transfer student and I have a 3.976 GPA and only got $10,000 whereas if I applied last year as an incoming freshman and got into the MT program, I could have gotten half of my tuition, if not all, paid for through academic scholarships.

I already submitted my FASFA form and got no need-based financial aid so I'm stuck there.

I'm just curious!

Ninnynoddle

I worked ridiculously hard in high school, did everything right, and got a few acceptances. And my dad told me today that we can't afford the school I want to go to because he doesn't want to pay loans. I'm heading to community college, it's looking like. I DON'T think there's anything wrong with a cc, but I'm really upset that all my hard work was basically wasted because of money. It's really not fair.

krazi4sugar

Same, I ended up in community college too. Though I got scholarships, they were not nearly enough to offset the high tuition costs.

gpmom48230

I'm not very proficient in the loan department, but could any of you take out your own loans as opposed to your parents? I can only imagine how frustrating this must be, especially if you have been accepted into a program you have worked so hard to get into. I fear we may be in the same situation next year.

NotMamaRose

A word to students thinking about taking out loans to attend your dream schools:

Be VERY judicious and careful about how much debt you take on. As an incoming college freshman, it might seem like years and years in the future when you will have to pay that total $$ off. But four years can go by more quickly than you would think, and I would honestly hate to see any of you coming out of a BFA with a large debt to shoulder. It is going to be difficult enough to make ends meet as a performer, much less when so much of your money is still spoken for. Please be smart about this.

showmom858

NotMamaRose - I absolutely agree with you about BFA students taking on large loans. You need to remember that once you graduate your focus will be on auditioning and you will probably get jobs that help pay the rent and food but not much more as you spend your time trying to get hired as an actor.

My D will be auditioning for BFA programs next year and my H and I have talked to her very frankly about college costs and what we are prepared to spend. She understands this and has decided to focus on schools (both BFA and BA) where she stands a good chance to get some merit aid if the cost to attend is above what we are prepared to pay. We have also told her that if the economy improves over the next 6 - 9 months then we will be willing to look again at what we will contribute for college.

IBEElieveINU

My son and I had to take into consideration the cost of the college. We didn't even auditon for any schools that were to far away (IE: because of flying to and from school for vac and holiday's etc.) which alot of people might forget to consider. Also, the cost of just application fees and audition fees and tranportation to even go the the auditons. As a single mother I was just unable to fund it. His school did offer app fee waiver's for up to 4 schools that did help but that is just to apply not audition. What we did was we filed for fin. aid and what ever is extra, he would take out a loan, and we would pay it off together when he graduated. So far for his freshman year we only owe $1500. He also didn't audition for anything like Strawhat's or anything like that because he knows he has to work close to home, because he needs to make money, and he can't use it for room and board to live far away. So he auditioned for an equity summer stock theatre close to us and if he doesn't make it he already has a job as a counslor at a theater arts camp, and he is happy with that. He made all these decsions himself, I would go to the ends of the earth and put myself in debt forever so he can have his dream but he won't let me.

IBEElieveINU

Please pardon my spelling on the previous post

luv2sail

Just as a reference. My son has a 4.5 weighted GPA, 8 AP classes, SAT 2110, ACT 33 and he received only loans from a couple of MT BFA programs. He worked his tail off both academically and artistically and was accepted to every school that he applied for both academically and into their MT BFA programs. The gruelling task now is to determine which one we can afford and have to decline the ones that we can't. It is a process!!!

famousactress2b_

You all make very good points.

My parents really dont want me to take out loans not only would it be difficult for me to pay them back once I graduate (because let's face it, unless you are a HUGE star, you don't make an overwhelming amount of money in this profession), but also my father had a lot of issues when he took out loans for graduate school (he paid them back on time and everything but about 5 years ago we kept getting calls saying that he never paid them back and that they were going to make him pay more, etc, etc...It all turned out ok though. It was just a pain in the butt!)

I just figured I would ask because it seems like a lot of people got into these amazing schools and are going, but I wanted to see how many people were in a situation like me.

IBEElieveINU

I'm wondering if schools put enough scholarship money aside for BFA students. I wonder if your child with that kind of academic record would he get more money if he was majoring in something else? I just really wonder?

luv2sail

To answer your question... IBEElieveINU, the pattern seems to be that the schools that asked for a second major option or lean heavily to the academic education as well were the most generous with the merit aid.

NotMamaRose

For most schools, the thing that is going to count most in terms of awarding students financial aid of the kind we all want (scholarships and grants ... not loans, which have to be paid back) is what the parents' FAFSA says. I am sure there are schools with BFA programs that base awards solely on talent and don't consider need, but those are few and far between. Most (not all ... most) want to give help to kids who are talented and smart but whose financial profile shows that they need the money in order to attend the school.

famousactress2b_

And that is what makes me disheartened. I have talent and I do have very good grades (not only in college, I did very well in high school graduating with over a 4.0 weighted) but my father makes too much money to receive need-based aid. At the same time, he can't dish out thousands upon thousands of dollars for my education. His business has not been doing so well lately (people don't have money to build buildings thus he can't design/inspect them) and he is going to be taking a leave of absence at the university he currently teaches at (for a number of reasons but basically they are treating him like crap). Also we are dishing out over $10,000 a year for my aunt's medical expenses.
Needless to say, it's very stressful in my household right now.

EnjoyTheAdventur

I think what makes me sad is low amount of scholarship monies that go towards the arts in comparison to atheletic programs.