Same with us. I expected at least some merit after flying to Miami for the Frost audition but my son only got the option for loans-and we really liked that program. He applied to Clive at NYU and got in but we knew that he would likely not get aid-we are in the middle as well so expected to pay full cost unless there is merit. He did get decent merit at other schools which we are grateful for…now just have to make some decisions.
2 Likes
My son applied to FSU only because we are in-state. He got in, we still haven’t heard anything about a potential music scholarship which honestly does surprise me. I mean throw us $500 lol not asking for much here lol They do have a great College of Music. Unfortunately for us their jazz program isn’t the greatest or at least not totally what my son is looking for. His biggest problem is the fact that the guitar professor is adjunct and he really wants a professor that is there full time wherever he’s at. Other than that its a great program.
3 Likes
We also stupidly flew to UW-Seattle, to find out that the university doesn’t care about music at all.
4 Likes
I have watched this site for many years. My D is now 33! so my direct experience is too old to be relevant. Still, watching this thread for years has shown patterns. Here are a few (and corrections from other people are welcomed).
1.) Big pops of money tend to happen for classical instrumentalists, say a violinist (who has been playing for many, many years). I could be wrong but I think it could be easier to tell big talent in this area. My D was a vocalist. They cannot truly train their voice until high school so they are “young”. It’s harder to tell big talent at that age as the voice is in your body and continues to change a lot during college. So, it’s not common that an UG soprano will get a big pop of dollars. A male vocalist with an advanced and special voice type may. But my experience has been the big dollars tend towards certain classical instrumentalists.
2.) Jazz and contemporary seemed to get less dollars…similar to vocalists. Why? I don’t know. These programs may be newer with less money. I have heard that certain programs can give good scholarships over the years. So, for people looking at next year, it is really important to drill down to the instrument and style to see what scholarships are possible.
3.) Appealing for merit. It’s best if the student does it. I don’t want to give to many suggestions since it’s been so long. But if you have a teacher in your corner that will help. Also if you are willing to wait it out until the end of April that gives you a chance too. More money does free up in some cases over the next month. So if a school is of high interest, it’s worth your kid asking the teacher what the chances are for more money. IMPORTANT NOTE: your kid will need to negotiate on program costs and contracts in the future. So start them now! It’s OK to ask about money!
4.) Expectations on merit. Well, you could get an extra $2500 a year! Or $5000 (not bad). You do need a like school offer to negotiate something big…like $10,000 or $20,000. Without that…they may throw you a “few thousand” bone near the end of April to get you to commit. This is a tad dangerous to say…bc then someone will inevitably have a better experience (which would be great the hear since that could be you!). But remember there are others not commenting that got $0 or a few thousand. Still…you never know when you’ll be the lucky one so ask!
Buckle up. I would suggest asking for more merit in most cases as an exercise for your kid to start talking about money. My D asks for more money on most contracts as a standard procedure…unless she is very familiar with the company and their policies and knows her offer is good.
I hope that this helps in some way.
And…”stupidly” flying somewhere is part of the learning experience, unfortunately. My D flew places for her first professional contracts…to be ghosted! Money, time, dreams…to no response. Heavy sigh. Your kid will learn a lot during college about managing this through peers…but will also need to learn the hard way some times. My D hasn’t been ghosted in years…but it took some time…
8 Likes
I think I’m going to split the difference. I’ll write the correspondence with my daughter’s contribution, but let her send it in.
I’m in the camp its OK for the parent to get involved with the finance. Especially, and maybe only at the outset and before enrollment. My daughter is still a minor, and unqualified to make decisions on how thousands of dollars a year affect my assets. That’s just one man’s opinion though.
But I do think the request will/may be better received if it at least appears to come from the student.
6 Likes
As this was directed at me based on my suggestion that parents lead the financial appeal process, I am hoping that some of last year’s parents chime in on this question.
We personally did not need to appeal. I did look over last year’s thread and it seems that some appeals were parent lead, some initiated by student in conjunction with parents.
And for those parents chastising themselves for traveling to a fancy school with the outcome of an expensive acceptance with no merit, we did that too. I’m guessing many of us did. As annoying as it is, chalk it up to the unpredictability of this whole process.
3 Likes
When appealing, would you list specific offers? And only ones that are higher? OR would you list ones that are the same but at potentially more competitive schools?
1 Like
I am in the camp of the student should fill out and send in an appeal for more merit. Most schools are expecting this and have a process set up for it. They can absolutely show offers that are higher and say something along the lines of “I would love to commit to your program if you are able to match this offer” but if you do that, and they come back with more money, you need to be ready to commit.
Some schools just don’t offer merit money. I can tell you from firsthand knowledge of a musician who was offered $60k/year for Frost MADE program and zero at USC for popular music 3 years ago.
Our S was offered a slightly smaller amount at Oberlin than Ithaca but had already made his mind up that he wanted Oberlin. They matched the Ithaca offer and he felt good about it because he did the asking.
Financial aid is different and I agree that the parent should lead that charge since it involves FAFSA/CSS/Loans etc.
He was determined to not pay for a post grad program and that is exactly what is happening. So it can definitely be different for grad schools/post grad programs.
3 Likes
Sometimes the kids just want to see if they can actually get it. I am hoping the professor, whom my daughter connected well with at USC comes up with something for her. Do they give financial need?
We are in Washington state and my DD didn’t apply to UW Seattle because of exactly what you said. Their music program is subpar and an after thought.
1 Like
I’m not sure if they are a meets needs school. I’m guessing no because I do think that my SAI is still about 20k lower than their final numbers.
I do not doubt that my son just wanted to see if he could get in lol and he did but man that was a crazy trip for us
1 Like
MSM posted a reel on IG that showed them saying decisions will be on or before April 1st lol at least we know it won’t go beyond that.
Memories for sure!!
1 Like
Two trips to NYU (which seemed to never coincide with the two to Juilliard). Like you said- nice confetti letter, but nothing beyond that. Hey- that’s the risk, you know? I had a blast. My daughter had a blast. The Juilliard audition was like going to the Chocolate Factory, and NYU was completely hospitable, and ultimately admitted her.
We didn’t get the merit we (mistakenly) expected might be there. No one is stopping me from still sending her, I guess. It sure would sting though. Lots of cost/benefit analysis going on right now, which suits my brain.
I’ll tell you this- given the caliber of schools and associated applicants we are discussing on this board, we all have some real high-class problems.
Good luck everybody. I’ll see you all at Lincoln Center in a few years!
4 Likes
Hi Everyone! So happy to share our experience with you! Thank you @anotheroboemom for messaging! I have to thank @TigerLily52 for coaching us on my son’s financial ask last year, as she shared her daughter’s merit award success story with me and the thread! So I’m happy to help.
I do believe the student should be the one corresponding and appealing/advocating for themselves when talking with and emailing professors. And I think a parent should be there in the background ready to offer the student the facts and figures to share if need be. But I think if a school does have some sort of online process to submit information that is strictly for admin, I do think it’s ok for a parent to complete such a form with the information. Have your offer in hand from the other school, and don’t be afraidto share it. No one will hold it against you.
What I learned from @TigerLily52 is that you’ve got to hang in there. Things shift at schools in mid-to-late April and money becomes available because students went elsewhere. Have a Plan A and a solid Plan B. My son committed to UNT and knew he would thrive there. He committed and we paid the deposit. IU gave him nice merit, but it did not compare to the bottom line at UNT. See, these professors are professionals, and they knew what was at UNT for my son for percussion performance. And UNT knows the other schools too. It did not matter that UNTs price started so much lower than IU on paper. What mattered was the bottom line.
We were ok knowing we could lose our deposit. Commit somewhere if it alleviates stress, in my opinion. In my son’s case, an IU professor reached out to him in mid April. I asked my son if he even wanted to have the conversation because my son had a big ask and he was happy with the UNT decision. He said he wanted to respond to the IU professor because IU was always his #1. He told him he was going to UNT, and the professor asked what they could do. My son told him he’d need a total of $38,000 a year from IU to match UNT. The professor said that may be too much, but that he would let admissions know. (IU initially offered $19,000 and we are OOS). Remember, it was mid April. But 1 week later, the official offer came, and they gave it to him!
Money frees up in late April! Don’t be afraid - it’s the process. And this is a business! Your talented kids are like recruited athletes! Best wishes to you!
10 Likes
The last couple of years have been weird years for financial packages. We used the 2024 merit thread to help narrow down school choices before applying. We also were basically guaranteed at least one full-tuition scholarship, which we planned to use as a negotiation tool to use with other schools, even though that particular school was not among her top choices. Unfortunately, right around March/April last year, when the schools were releasing their offers, there were some large political and financial changes happening in the country that I believe made the schools more uncertain about the future and more conservative with their offers. The school where we had been essentially guaranteed full tuition ended up being one of my daughter’s worst offers, and they barely came up when we appealed, even though the teacher who recommended her walked over to the financial aid office personally and asked them to reconsider. It seemed like the kids in the 2025 thread just overall didn’t quite match the level of merit that the 2024 grads got. This year may end up being similar, with everything currently going on in the world. Unfortunately, economic uncertainty does not make for easy choices in the education world, and that goes for both the institutions and the students trying to afford them.
Anyway, last year we appealed merit at 5 schools and got at least a little bit more from all of them. Then we appealed again at 3 and got significantly more from each of them. If people want to see the raw numbers, which I have mostly forgotten at this point (LOL), there is a link that someone posted higher up in this thread that includes all the acceptances and financial packages for 2025, including some appeals and increases. We literally had scholarship offers coming in until about 8 pm on May 1 last year. My daughter had her top two choices narrowed down to Oberlin and Eastman the last week, and it mostly came down to $$ for the final decision. So, she committed to Oberlin the afternoon of 5/1 and then ended up getting an email from Eastman that evening with an additional offer, bringing the COA at the two schools to within about $500 of each other. It was a nice surprise, but kind of stressful because it made her question her decision. She ultimately stuck with it, and I think it was the right choice for her.
We did have an extenuating circumstance in that I lost my job in late March of last year, just as the final acceptances and financial packages were coming in. So, we appealed based on that (we still didn’t qualify for need-based aid, but I think they took into account that our income went down by about 1/3), plus we highlighted her accomplishments since applying (YoungArts Winner with Distinction was the big one, but she also had some regional competition wins that we mentioned). We also not only filled out the appeal forms (I did this part because they wanted detailed financial info), but we directly emailed admissions/financial aid at each school and also copied any teachers she had worked with (she wrote the letters, since she had the relationships with the teachers, and I proofread/edited and sent them from her email address or portal). That was when I became thankful that she had had the opportunity to form relationships with several teachers who then helped us with our appeal. Her current voice teacher really went to bat for her, as did the teachers at Eastman and IU.
I’m not going to lie - it was a long and stressful process on top of the long and stressful process of traveling and auditioning all year. But it paid off for us in the end, and I would definitely do it again.
8 Likes
@Clara30 thank you very much! Do you mind me asking, for any of the merit appeals, was the starting point zero merit? Just wondering the likelihood of starting from zero and seeing any movement.
Hello fellow music parents. Congrats to all with good news. That’s unfortunately not us. My child is a graduating senior brass player. All state, top-level city orchestra, jazz and classical. His teacher recommended he audition at all the top schools and expected he would qualify for significant scholarship money.
He has been rejected by every single school so far, even ones where he had a great trial lesson and good interaction with the faculty. We’re waiting on a few more, but have any of you gone through this? How do you deal with it? What do you say?
He’s ready to give up on his instrument all together and thinks he has wasted so much time practicing, working, and making sacrifices or giving things up for music only to be clearly told that his expectations were obviously too high and he is not good enough. I am not a musician and have no idea what to tell him.
It’s very disheartening.
18 Likes
It’s not over until it’s over. Do not have him give up yet especially since you are waiting on other schools. One of those can be THE one.
4 Likes
It must be very hard. My go-to advice might be, in part, something along the lines of - there are always possibilities. It might not look exactly like what he envisioned; but history is replete with stories of people in every discipline bouncing back from adversity because they continued to connect with what was deeply meaningful to them and were able to think creatively around a block. I know that one of DD friends underperformed with his acceptances with respect to what he and the teacher expected. The teacher just said that “he was unlucky.” It took some of the self-judgment out of the equation. (That student is thriving, now, by the way!) And no one can foresee all ends. Hard work and the willingness to “bloom where you’re planted” can make up for a lot of what looks devastating at first glance.
6 Likes