Mom of rising senior here finalizing our list of schools. I wanted to make sure we have a good list of schools that are known to give significant talent money (rather than academic merit or need based aid) for string students. Looking for a COA that is around $20K. I know this is hard to come by, and may be impossible.
What private schools are missing from this list? Assume that grades will not suffice for Vanderbilt, Rice, etc. Also keeping the NYC and Boston schools out of it for cost of living concerns.
I think it will be a challenge to get the cost of attendance at any of these schools to be $20,000 or less. You would need just about a full tuition award. your student has excellent auditions…and maybe you can reach this price point.
Are there any public universities in your state that offer music performance…that might hit that price point?
Have you discussed this with your student’s private violin teacher? They might have some good ideas.
Maybe Shenandoah…but there are a lot of costs in addition to tuition.
Having gone through the process twice with a number of these schools and having known a number of local music students who have as well, if you don’t qualify for need based aid at all the following will be tough to impossible to get to 20K. We got offers from most of these.
USC
Oberlin
UDenver
Lawrence (they might get closest, we were in the very low 30’s with max merit and popped under the price of our state flagship last year)
I suspect it will also be very difficult to get there at Rochester (this was the most expensive offer for one of my kids, but I don’t know as much generally about their music awards) and Frost. If you haven’t try running net price calculators, make sure you do at a range of schools. Because if you do qualify for need based aid, that might change the picture. I don’t know anything about your other 2.
One of my kids did get close to 20K at a public university with generous merit, so look at those schools in state or that you might be able to get in state tuition for. University of North Texas is great for music and known to be more affordable, that might be another one to look at.
This will very much depend on your musician’s level. So hopefully his private teacher can give input. Full tuition scholarships are hard to come by and possible by either being the top candidate for a particular studio at a school that gives high dollar awards or through acceptance to one of the fully funded conservatories which are extremely selective.
Check IU/Jacobs which tends to be fairly generous for undergrad strings.
Also have you looked at McDuffie Center for Strings? It offers a full tuition scholarship for all accepted students.
Tagging @somethings for more strings specific input.
Personally we found USC not very generous with talent based scholarship money. I assume you mean Thornton/USC. Also a very expensive place to live.
In our experience and the outcomes of several musicians we know who have applied to USC, at least for classical instrumentalists, USC tends to have relatively low scholarship awards for undergrad students. They seem to very much prioritize grad students with both opportunities and scholarships.
Very much a generalization, though.
That’s what we heard. Do you know average award size by any chance? The school is $95k. I am talking my kid out of applying since we don’t see a situation we would ever pay that much for USC.
This is all really helpful commentary - thank you! And this pretty much confirms what we were thinking about how hard this is going to be, which I suppose is comforting that we haven’t missed anything major to consider.
We are definitely looking at all our in-state public schools.
Some of you mentioned Jacobs and UNT/ do they offer in-state tuition to music students by chance? Are there any other public university music schools that are known to offer in-state tuition? I imagine this would mean casting a very wide net. Again, the schools like Michigan, etc. will not work because of grades.
The amazing McDuffie Center will go on the list/ but there aren’t that many spots each year. Seems like it’s Curtis-level hard to get into because it’s free.
Yes, for USC, I was thinking Thornton in LA/ I don’t know anything about their scholarship situation for string players, so unless we think that there’s at least a shot at money (even if it’s a long shot) it’s not happening.
I have heard of NEC, BoCo and Manhattan giving surprising merit scholarships but not enough to get down to $20k. Oberliln music folks, in our experience, might offer to go to bat for more money so you don’t know until you try. Lawrence is a great choice, and state U’s. Hartt at U. of Hartford, SUNY’s are know to be more affordable. SUNY’s are affordable relatively even for out of state students. Purchase and Crane?
It depends on your child’s performance level. If he or she is a phenomenal talent, even some questionable grades wouldn’t disqualify him or her from places like Vanderbilt or Michigan, necessarily. On the other hand, if your child is not a phenomenal talent, you might consider that he or she should not major in violin performance in the first place, especially if there’s anything else in which he or she has interest and aptitude.
All that being said, The Cincinnati Conservatory at The University of Cincinnati offers scholarships and has an excellent strings faculty, including for violin. Stony Brook University (New York, but not in the city) does as well. University of Memphis also might be of interest to your family.
Same here. My D applied as a double bass and got in but there was 0 talent scholarship $. We learned later that USC has generous scholarships for grad students. They also give half of tuition for National Merit Scholars if you happen to qualify.
One person we know (also double bass) got a full ride at Frost for pursuing music education. The school specifically told her that if she switched to music performance she could not keep the award.
Anyone can get instate tuition at Utah after the first year (via physical presence, i.e. staying for the summer). You can get it immediately if the student’s parent is a veteran.
I don’t actually think this is impossible, but it definitely depends on the level of the student and what level of school they are willing to attend. If the student is highly competitive, achieving this level of scholarship is certainly possible. My son reached this level at 4/5 places he auditioned, though 2 of these are always tuition free. (Ironically, the one place he did not get that much was his safety school. Go figure.)
If the student is less competitive, you will likely only achieve this if the student auditions at programs that are slightly below level. It’s hard to tell from your list, but I am guessing places like state schools and some private schools more known for scholarships (in my city, DePaul and Roosevelt are good examples) would be closer to what you are looking for financially. You become a big fish in a small pond, and become highly desirable.
However, there are potential cons to this. While it is certainly possible to find great teachers at lower tier institutions, you still miss out on some of the opportunities of a higher tier, better-fit school. These would include better instruction (generally), networking, and also peers at a similar level who will challenge you. Sometimes it is worth pushing the finances a bit because you will get bigger gains in the long run.
Also remember that many kids start at a lower tier school and go on to a more prestigious graduate program. That is always an option.
Also, if you put a lot of effort into it, you can often get outside scholarships to make up the difference. This requires quite a bit of research and a lot of paperwork, but I have known students who were able to easily make up $10K or more with outside scholarships.
My son was invited to visit McDuffie center at the beginning of his senior year (2022). He was highly impressed with the level of playing and the curriculum. I’m not a musician so I can only relay his feedback. The string students there played at a level higher than the highest (there are three) Texas all-state orchestra but lower than NYO2. (Texas all-state only practice together for 4 days while NYO2 practice together for several weeks.) The several students he met there were passionate, hardworking, and happy. He has friends (violinists, cellists, and violists) in Curtis, Peabody, Shepherd, Julliard, Eastman, etc. He felt that some McDuffie students were on par with his friends in those schools. If Eastman is on OP’s list, I believe McDuffie could be too.
Also remember that many kids start at a lower tier school and go on to a more prestigious graduate program.
It really does seem that students at top grad schools for music come from all kinds of backgrounds.
It is wise to avoid debt if possible, at the undergrad level. For grad school, one strategy is to do a doctoral program that is funded and get a master’s along the way. Canada, UK and Europe can also be money-savers.
Some BA programs will give merit money for music (or have more generous financial aid). Of course that means 1/4 classes in music, continued lessons and extracurricular performance but if more affordable, can still lead to grad school for music.
your student has excellent auditions…and maybe you can reach this price point.