<p>Northern Illinois University is also very affordable- especially if you make good grades as the school provides scholarships up front. The school is about an hour from Chicago and in their junior year, BFA (which is auditioned) students study in Moscow. Kathryn Gately is the master acting teacher and she has trained many award winning actors. She and other faculty members came from Rutgers. The school also offers the full college experience- a campus, football team (they even have a women’s gymnastics team), Greek life, mid-western charm… Of course I’m biased because my daughter will be a freshman there but coming from out of state, it’s extremely affordable! The total cost- without any scholarships or any other funding- which includes tuition, room and board, fees, and everything else is about $34,000. My son is at NYU- the total cost there is about $67,000.</p>