soozievt

I do not know the tuition at colleges that my kids did not apply to. For the ones they did, NYU was not twice or three times as much. As far as affordibility, we have no money saved for college and my children are on hefty financial aid including scholarships and loans. Some would not opt to take on such expenses and loans but we have chosen to do that but that is not for everyone. For us, I was saying it was personally worth it but it didn't mean that I could AFFORD it. Far from it. Not everyone is willing to take on that debt. I have read many accounts on CC of those whose parents are not willing to do so. As well, schools do offer financial aid to those who need it and they determine the need. After that, it is up to each family to decide what they can afford to do, are willing to sacrifice or take on debt for, and so forth.

I know that everyone here values sending their kids to colleges of their choice. The cost MUST be taken into account for all parents unless they are rich and we surely are NOT.

As to what is financially feasible, families need to have this discussion before applying to colleges. Some may wish to just apply to more affordable schools in the first place. No sense applying to colleges that one can't then attend. Or a family can let the child know that the choice of college will be determined by which gives the best financial aid package. The parents have to set the boundaries. Many parents will use cost to determine which school their child may attend. This is fair and understandable.

As to if it is worth it.....is a personal choice. I have a child who had a free ride at a college that she did not want to attend and that did not fit her needs. I could have made her go and it really would have made our lives so much easier. But we did not opt to do that, nor to make her go where she received merit aid. But I understand those who would have their child take those options over the schools that were better fits. This is an issue for most families.

A student asked if the school was worth the money. I imagine that attending NYU is one of her options and the question was framed as to whether to take the less expensive option over the more expensive one or vice versa as to which school was worth the money or better or if the more expensive school was better or more worth it. I assumed her parents gave her the option of attending either but were weighing if the more expensive one was worth the extra expense as that is how she framed the question. If she can't afford the more expensive one, that is a moot point. If her parents allowed EITHER school, then I don't see it mattering if one school was "worth" more than the other, except for fit. If they don't either want to or can't spend more for that school, then it is a moot point all together.

soozievt

Razorback, when I was talking "best fit", it was in response to this student asking what makes NYU "better" and I don't see it as better but just best for my child. I wasn't discussing money in that section. She wanted to know if this school was worth it, not whether she could afford it.

soozievt

I don't have time to look up all the colleges' costs but I know, for example, when my D applied to CMU it cost approx. $40,600. Emerson was about $35,000, Syracuse was about $41,500. NYU was about $48,000 at the time. So, it cost more but not 2-3 times as much. My D's costs at Brown (an example of a BA program for theater) are $43,500.

These are approximations. It is also important when comparing figures to delineate which are just tuition/room/board and which totals include books, personal expenses and transportation. I don't have the time right now to go and figure out which totals given were of which nature but they very well may differ. I think NYU"s total included ALL expenses and some of the other totals may not have but I'd have to check carefully on each and can't right now.

BiGismama

The vast majority of other private universities cost between $25K-$35K, with most around $27K. Just a (very) few examples in this range: Elon, Point Park, OCU, Evansville, Otterbein, Webster.

And it's great that many folks can afford to send their kids to the higher priced universities like NYU, CMU etc. (or are willing to take on 6 figure debt); that's a very personal decision.

In the case of NYU, I've never heard of their top scholarships being over $20-25K (and those are pretty rare), so you're still left with a big chunk of change to pay out of pocket. Which is more than okay, if you're able to do that!

I want to make it clear that I AM NOT "dissing" NYU; on the contrary I think it's a GREAT school and was a top choice of my daughter's (a lot of her friends attend) until she realized the financial implications and decided not to apply.

BiGismama

Those figures in my previous post do not include, books, transportation and personal expenses. I never bother to look at those when I compare school costs. I only look at tuition & fees, room & board. The $43,000 for NYU that I had based my very early comparisons on (about 1 1/2 years ago, I think) , was $33K tuition and approx $10K room & board.

razorback1

I did not say NYU was twice or 3 times as much. I said it's almost twice as much as many of the schools. I don't have time to pull all my files and post. I just don't have the time for this forum that some do. But, you can check the websites. This isn't personal opinion. It's a simple fact. Easily proven. I have no problem with NYU. It's a wonderful school. I don't understand why anyone is defensive over it.

NotMamaRose

Soozievt, as a college counselor (not to mention a woman with two kids *in* college), I have no doubt you know far more about the whole "how people pay for expensive college" thing than do I. But this discussion about the expense of schools such as NYU reminded me of a few articles I have read recently that state that about 60 percent of undergrads borrow to pay for college, which (according to Nellie Mae, a Sallie Mae subsidiary) that the average they owe upon graduation is a whopping $18,900!! According to the statistics, graduate students borrow even more -- usually more than $30k! The whole idea of my kid graduating in that kind of debt scares me. But you gotta go what you gotta do, I guess.

I also read that the College Board estimates that the average cost for tuition, fees, room and board at public colleges is now $12,127 a year at public colleges and $29,026 at private colleges.

That certainly does put NYU in the more expensive category, but frankly, from what I have been able to ascertain, not that much more from than, say, CMU, etc.

L

SportsFanW/MTKid

My research came up with (approximately) an EVERYTHING MT cost of:

NYU - $49,500
Syracuse - $43,900
CMU - $44,300
UMich - $39,500
CCM - $22,000 (In-state)

Some of these numbers are rounded, some of these numbers are for 05-06 and some of 06-07. Everything often includes both room, board, tuition, books as well as personal costs (laundry, extra food, entertainment, etc.) and transportation. If anyone is interested, each school's site has a breakdown.

LotteLenya

nyu IS rediculously expensive. there's no way around it. but, it really makes you wonder. obviously not everyone can afford to attend all of these "top schools" (which all are very pricey)... so there must be good theatre education at the state level for all of the kids who need it.. so if you are a prospective who feels like you won't be getting the calibur of training just because you can't afford nyu, it's not necessarily true. i visited kent state's campus because i knew of a girl who went there for a BFA in Musical Theatre (very very talented), and was curious to see what they were up to. I had never heard of their program, and figured that just because it's not a "top ranked" school that the quality wasn't going to be up to par. i was wrong. what i learned was that Kent ends up getting all of the wonderfully talented Ohio kids who cannot afford to attend NYU or Syracuse or Michigan ect. and that's a lot of talented kids! and i saw Into The Woods there and was FLOORED. It was incredible. And the girl I know who just graduated was cast as Maria in West Side Story at a Professional Theatre.

so, i guess what i'm saying is that everyone might be talking "top school".. "best education".. but there's no way that all the best actors in the world who are going to succeed come from backgrounds which enable them to afford NYU. And don't get me wrong, I love NYU. I most likely will be attending. I consider myself very lucky to be able to do that, because there is great talent who could be in my place, but can't. But, I just wanted to share my Kent State story because I can understand why a person who can't afford to go to these schools would become worried... but there really is no reason for it!! There are great programs at the state level.

And the other thing is GRAD SCHOOL!! Excell in Undergrad... and try to get a free ride to a prestigious grad school (ehem.. NYU!)... I think that's where people really refine their skills. That's what I've heard anyway!

razorback1

I guess that's one of my peeves about this forum. It seems to focus on only the big schools and the kids that get into them. Some people are left feeling that it has to be one of those schools or nothing. And the people who are planning to attend these non-biggies don't post because they feel inferior. The story about Kent State really brings that point home. There is excellent education to be found many places. In the end, it's the talent and the person underneath that. It's things like integrity, perserverance, ambition, work ethic, attitude, etc. And, I'm not implying that those characteristics exist only in any level of school. I'm just saying that, no matter where you graduate, these are the things that will make or break you......assuming the underlying talent is there.

Sporti2005

college IS so expensive. the prospect of how much debt i'll have leaving school (if i get into the school i want to) is daunting.

it's frustrating, but it's almost tempting to stay at a school i don't like just because of the tiny amount i'm paying to attend. at this point there's no chance of that happening (i just don't "belong" here), but man, it would be nice to have so little debt getting out.

NotMamaRose

I was discussing the cost of NYU with a friend whose D is waiting to hear from them now (though not for MT) and she commented that parents need to keep in mind that it is not just the cost of the tuition and room and board that they need to consider, but also the cost of pocket money. This woman's older D attends a small, private college in Ohio and she said "My D can go out to eat several times in her little Ohio town on about $20 a week. That wouldn't cut it for one meal in New York City."
Whether that figure is correct or not, the point makes sense. It simply does cost more to live in the middle of NYC than it does to live in, say, Yellow Springs, Ohio.
But the bottom line is that parents and their students applying to college have to sit down and figure out whether they can swing a school like NYU or whether they can't. Some can't. That isn't fair, but life isn't fair. We all just have to do the best we can with the resources we have.
L

tripletreat

Here are the out of state tuition and room & board at some more that I applied to.

Otterbein - $28,000
Florida State - $25,096
Ithaca – $35,144
Hartt - $32,476
Roosevelt – $25,430
Juilliard – $33,900
NCSA – $22,310
SUNY Purchase - $20,465

Even if you get their biggest $20,000 scholarship, NYU is STILL more expensive than most of them WITHOUT any scholarships and some like Otterbein, FSU and Hartt are VERY generous. This is one of the reasons the teachers at my performing arts high school don't recommend NYU. Nobody from my class even applied this year because of the cost.

stgmom24

While I agree with the general discussion here that parents/students have to be realistic about cost ANY school, I do not agree that NYU students cannot eat out a couple of times a week for $20. There are countless wonderful low cost places in and around NYU that cater to NYU students. They offer authentic cuisines from around the world at very reasonable prices. Also note that NYU has options of apartment style dorms with kitchens even for freshmen, and there are supermarkets and green grocers all around. Maybe the "best of NY" restaurants are saved for visiting days but I suspect that is true at most schools.

alwaysamom

Since razorback doesn't have the time to pull out her files, I pulled out mine. Granted, I don't have the details on every single school discussed here on CC but that's part of the reason I asked her for her information so that I could learn. Anyway, here is the information I had for the schools which I investigated for a few kids this year. The figure is for tuition only, but it gives a good representation of some of the various schools which are discussed here:

$34,780 NYU
$34,180 CMU
$28,285 Syracuse
$26,832 Ithaca
$24,700 BoCo
$24,064 Emerson
$22,629 CCM
$22,000 PSU
$20,171 Elon
$18,686 MMC
$17,900 OCU

I knew I had about a dozen different schools discussed here. I can't find my file on UMich (perhaps theatermom can fill us in on what their tuition is). So I think that's a fairly good representation of schools which are often under discussion here. This is the reason I inquired of razorback which schools she was talking about when she said that NYU was "almost twice the cost of many, many of the schools discussed on this forum". I'd really be interested to know what those schools are, I asked that in all sincerity in my previous post.

While NYU is obviously very expensive, everyone knows that, it isn't a big surprise, or shouldn't be. However, it's not double the cost of ANY of those schools. To make such statements is not useful to anyone who is in the process of learning about admissions to these programs. Certainly, financial considerations have to be a part of the decision-making process in any college admissions hunt. Not everyone is going to be able to afford every college, that's a given, not just for theatre kids. That's why if it's necessary to compare financial aid packages that kids not apply E.D., and there's nothing wrong with kids applying to schools which are more expensive. It happens all the time in college admissions, for every possible major. You never know what kind of financial aid you're going to be awarded, and for the price of an application fee, you can take your chances and see what you get. I know many kids who applied to many of the schools on that above list, got financial aid packages from all of them, and some of these kids ended up with more aid from a few of the more expensive schools than they did from some others. Sometimes it's hard to predict.

Lots of kids graduate with debt, and certainly no one wants that, but sometimes it's inevitable. The amount of debt, again, is a personal choice that we and our children all have to determine to fit our own personal situation. As a parent of four Ds, I'm just happy that my next D chose to go to school in Canada, where it is much less expensive.

The spending money issue is not as clearcut as some have indicated. My D at NYU can easily eat out for less than $20. There are innumerable small restaurants in the city where a good meal can be eaten for less than $10. Students are resourceful at finding them!