Current Musical Theater College Students and Parents Share Experiences

College Majors Musical Theater Majors
121

<p>I have conferred with my senior colleague, who writes:</p>

<p>Same rules apply to all students. </p>

<p>Their parents have to stop claiming them on their taxes. (This is the one step that affects most kids, and may be the toughest to do.)
They must have in state drivers license and plates.
They must register to vote in the state.
They must pay state income tax.
They must have a permanent in state address, and have utility stubs to prove this. </p>

<p>So he is in agreement that there cannot be any preference shown to a grad student - that would be an inequity that an undergrad student could readily challenge as nepotism, collusion (to make grad teacher funding feasible), etc.</p>

<p>That last requirement seems to preclude dorm students, as they are not as readily believable as permanent residents if they aren’t at least in an apt.</p>

<p>I also recommend that the students have a bank account in a local bank, or in a California branch of any national chain (change of address is likely all that would be needed at Wells Fargo, BofA, and others); and that they maintain term accounts ONLY in California (transfer any CDs, etc. to a branch here).</p>

<p>Hope this is helpful,</p>

<p>eve</p>

122

<p>Our D is at Webster (about 1700 miles) and flying in and out of Montana is not cheap. So she will only get to come home at Christmas. Freshman don’t audition so we don’t have to worry yet about how to handle the performance issue. If she gets cast in something next year I will probably do whatever it takes to get there. She will be in the Spring Dance Concert but we won’t be able to attend. </p>

<p>We/she decided that attending a school that she loves was the most important thing for her education and in this case it happened to be a long ways away. So we spent all the money on tuition room and board and left little for travel. It’s hard but she is so happy. </p>

<p>It’s different for everyone but so far we are holding up under the long distance</p>

123

<p>Like Dancersmom, I cannot imagine a student being able to claim in state status unless he/she is self supporting. Most students are not self supporting yet. As well, like you say, their parents could not claim them on their income taxes, for them to be declared self supporting and residents of another state. Seems unusual to do so.</p>

<p>Also getting an in state drivers license may be hard without establishing permanent residency. I don’t think an out of state student is considered a permanent resident. Paying state income tax is difficult if the student doesn’t earn income to support themselves in that state. </p>

<p>I don’t know how it is in CA but it is unusual for a student to be able to claim in state status when their parents reside out of state to my knowledge. Otherwise, all would do this.</p>

<p>My kids go to college in other states and could have an apt. and likely will next year and they have bank accounts in those states too. However, they are not self supporting, are not considered permanent residents, do not pay income taxes in those states, do not have drivers licenses for those states, AND, the big one…we still support them, pay for college and much more and declare them on our taxes. I also think this entire discussion would be tied into financial aid. The parents could not contribute to tuition or get parent loans if the student is declared self supporting.</p>

124

<p>Eve,</p>

<p>Thanks for clarifying Fullerton’s in-state residency requirements. They look pretty similar to those I have seen at other universities. Two of the rules, paying California income tax and no longer being claimed as a dependent on the parent’s income taxes are where most universities “catch” out-of-state students who are simply in the state for educational purposes. In Florida, to use the state where my D attends school as an example, university officials would take a look at the student’s income tax statement to determine whether or not the student earned enough money to realistically be self-supporting. Parents can stop claiming their young adult as a dependent easily enough, but if the student does not earn enough income to pay for room, board, and tuition, the school assumes that the student is still being subsidized by the parents. I have forgotten exactly what percentage of income Florida expects students to earn, but it is large. As long as a student is being supported by his parents, he cannot legally establish residence in Florida. Exceptions are made for students who are married, military veterans, or are over the age of 25.</p>

<p>Perhaps the state of California or Cal State Fullerton really are more liberal in allowing out-of-state students to become legal residents for tuition purposes. I am still skeptical, however. If there really is no assumption that students must be self-supporting, I’m surprised that out-of-state students are not flocking to the California state schools.</p>

<p>This subject has been discussed at length on other forums here at CC. The great majority of posters have said that their kids have not been able to establish residency in their schools’ home state. The need to prove that the student is functioning in a financially independent state precludes it.</p>

<p>The reason that I questioned your statement initially is that I do not want to see a student matriculate at an out-of-state school with the impression that it will be a piece of cake to gain in-state status after the freshman year. I have found that most students are simply unable to do it for the reasons I stated above. Students who are in an intense BFA program find that meeting the self-supporting requirement is virtually impossible. The time demands of the degree program make it extremely difficult to work during the school year and most students cannot earn enough money during the summers to support themselves for 12 months. Students in less demanding majors may find themselves able to work part-time through the school year and therefore earn enough money to meet the self-supporting requirement.</p>

<p>I would still be interested to learn how many out-of-state BFA MT students at Fullerton have been able to earn in-state status.</p>

125

<p>Actually, my daughter would love to go to NYU, but it is close to $50,000 a year. Way, way too expensive, and I don’t think that she’d qualify academically. But she does make use of NYC facilities, drama classes, singing lessons, dance classes, and going into Manhattan three or four times a week. However, she does want to live the “college” life–get out of the house,live in a dorm etc. It’s too expensive in NYC, (and also too familiar) so we’re looking
for other schools. It’s a challlenge.</p>

126

<p>Hi everyone! I just found this site the other day. My daughter and I have been searching for musical theater colleges. She is currently interested in Marymount, University of the Arts, and NYU(way too exxpensive for us). Someone told me that their daughter attends Russell Sage College and they have a great musical theater program. I would love to hear from anyone who has been there. I haven’t seen this school mentioned on here. Any feedback would be much appreciated.</p>

127

<p>I have to admit, I did not know that Russell Sage had a MT program… and I just moved from the Albany area.</p>

<p>My interest being piqued, I went to their website. The professional internship with NYSTI looks like a real plus. The program of study also looks strong in terms of training. It is an all women’s school, so I would ask where the men come from for productions, are they also training professionally? </p>

<p>The degree is a BS (Bachelor of Science), which some schools use to split the difference between a BA and a BFA.</p>

<p>I attend combined summer stock auditions for the theatre company for which I work, and I do not remember seeing Russell Sage students at the auditions. I have no personal experience with the program. But it certainly looks worth checking into.</p>

128

<p>KatMT Thanks for the reply. My daughter was wondering the same thing about where the men would come in. We sent out a request for more information, so hopefully we will learn more about their program. I will let you know what we find out.</p>

129

<p>Thank you. Good luck with the program search!</p>

130

<p>To get back to the original purpose of this thread, I will give you a brief update of my daughter’s experience so far at OU. She is taking private voice lessons, acting, music theory (I think there are 2 different courses she is in as they have different course #s), ballet, costume construction, makeup, and English. She’s been in rehearsals every night for “Once Upon a Mattress.” Her teachers and classes are all good. She says she’s doubled her ability in acting already, just from the one class. Even costume construction has turned out to be good. Overall, she’s had her ups and downs. For example, today is cold in Oklahoma, and she–being a Californian–didn’t realize that though the dorm was hot inside, it might be cold outside. So she traipsed across campus wearing a thin shirt. She can’t get over how quickly the weather changes in Norman. Today she’s really psyched because Victoria Clark is coming tomorrow to watch the rehearsal of “Mattress,” will hold a Q&A session, and on Saturday will give a masterclass to the seniors (and my d will be watching that class, but not participating). She has the school spirit for the Sooner football team, but couldn’t go to the game in Dallas (OU/UT) as she couldn’t get a ticket. That turned out to be good for mom and dad as she was able to come home because she had a 3 day weekend. She never saw the massacre on the football field, but we got to catch up on things. It was so great seeing her!</p>

131

<p>Wow, Victoria Clark! That will be such a great experience to watch the workshop. These visits by professionals to these BFA programs are a wonderful plus to the experience. I saw Victoria Clark on Broadway in Light in the Piazza and thought she was superb. Enjoy!
(she’ll get the weather thing down in no time…one cold day dressed the way she was will do it, lol)</p>

132

<p>I know this thread is intended to be for first-year experiences, and apologize for the diversion to residency, so this will be my last post on that here. Promise.</p>

<p>Folks were asking about options to pay for the exorbitant cost of education, so the out-of-state tuition at state schools was suggested as a viable option. I whole-heartedly concur. Out of state tuition is typically MUCH less at state schools. A few examples:</p>

<p>•CSUF resident = $3,020; out of state = $13,190
•UCLA resident = $7,141; out of state = $25,825
•UCI resident = $7,607; out of state = $26,291</p>

<p>•SUNY resident = $5,360; out-of-state = $11,610
•NYU Tisch (this appears to be whether resident or not): $34,780</p>

<p>•U Mass Boston resident = 5,510; out-of-state = $11,226
•BOCA (this appears to be whether resident or not): $33, 792</p>

<p>•Michigan State: freshmen resident = $8,893; freshmen out-of-state = $21,538; non-freshman resident = $8,806; non-freshman out-of-state = $21,394
•Univ. of Michigan: freshmen/sophomore resident = $9,724; freshmen/sophomore out-of-state = $29,132; junior/senior resident = $10,960; junior/senior out-of-state = $31,178</p>

<p>I was not inferring the residency was easy, but that it is also not impossible. Extremely challenging, and requiring the student to be self-sufficient, yes. Parents should consider this as an option when looking at the overall cost of attendance.</p>

<p>Oh, on the driver’s license issue, many states require that you obtain an in-state driver’s license and vehicle registration within a certain window of time of moving there. You should be sure to check with the DMV in your prospective “new” state for regulations.</p>

133

<p>Prof., NYU is a private university, thus the same costs apply to all who attend. :)</p>

134

<p>I think the costs above are tuition only and do not include housing (room and board), which makes many of the schools even higher in cost.</p>

135

<p>Something else to keep in mind: although out-of-state tuition at state universities is usually less than at many private ones, quite often the merit/talent aid offered is not as generous at state u. </p>

<p>What we found last year was that merit/talent scholarship offers often put the private universities D applied to in the same ballpark as the out-of-state, state universities. Yet another reason to make sure those essays, recomendation letters, and other supplementary materials are carefully attended to! :)</p>

<p>Good look to all of you (parents and kids) heading out on the audition trail this season. It’s a great opportunity to spend some quality time together, in spite of the stress and the work involved. We really enjoyed all of our travels and I wish the same for all of you!</p>

136

<p>BIGisMama, that is a very good point. In my D’s case, the smallest merit scholarship came from Penn State which is a public and she got much larger scholarship offers from privates. I recall UMich also saying they had less scholarship money available. It is understandable. But it is important that folks realize not to necessarily rule out private colleges assuming they will cost more because between talent scholarhips and need based aid, the bottom line may not be what you had expected. My kids also get financial aid and so the cost of their private schools is high but once scholarships and financial aid are figured in, not necessarily higher than a lower cost school. Many privates also are able to give 100% of need based aid (their formulas of course).</p>

137

<p>And there are always exceptions to the norm. My d got really great scholarships (talent and academic) at an out of state public school. I think it is important to have a range of ‘types/costs’ of schools on your lists. When we were awaiting audition results last year, we were praying that we could afford the schools that my d got into, but we also had a backup school or two that we knew we could afford without scholarships. </p>

<p>Good luck to those trying to put together a list of schools with all these things like cost/location/type of program/etc to take into consideration. It is not an easy task.</p>

138

<p>Okay, I’ll admit it – I’m another happy mom with a kid home on fall break. For a week!! She’s been going non-stop since she got home and it’s fun to have the house full of teenagers (and noise) again. Nothing but really good reports about her first two months as MT student at Webster. Loves the school, loves the people, loves the work; appears to be thriving – we couldn’t ask for anything more. (well, except for her to be close enough to come home more often, that is!! :slight_smile: )</p>

139

<p>BiGismama,</p>

<p>Glad to hear that you daughter is loving Webster! Have a nice week home with her!</p>

<p>kaysmom</p>

140

<p>Thanks Kaysmom, good luck to your daughter (and you) with all her upcoming auditions this season. Just think, next year you’ll be looking back and enjoying the visits home! :)</p>