<p>My son if interested in studying musical theater in college for which he will need to audition for programs. His mother and I are very much in agreement that no debt for undergraduate studies - especially this one. Also agree that paying a material amount above what Big State University would charge is not prudent, thus he knows that any OOS or private school offers will need merit aid to make the cost equal/ball park of the $25K per year it would cost at BSU. </p>
<p>Need-based assistance is out of the question given our household income. Material amounts (i.e., > $20K per year) of talent-based assistance is also rare in the musical theater world. For what it’s worth, we are trying to brain-wash him into getting a master’s degree when appropiate via his own resources.</p>
<p>Son took a nine-hour prep course offered through his high school and did a little bit individual prep. and scored a 30 on his ACT. Were very excited/proud. He says hell hit the books again in late-August for the Sept. 21 test date. This is a good spot to also reiterate that his weighted GPA is 4.0, hell have five AP classes under his belt after being graduated, and the district/school is considered academically strong. </p>
<p>He currently has a list of twenty schools which he wants to consider auditioning for this fall/winter. Part of what well do this summer is to start to pare down this list to 12 15 schools and start the logistical/budgetary planning of these auditions and (hopefully) follow-up visits in the spring. </p>
<p>I am going to make the assumption that material merit aid will only come from institutions in which his 30 puts him into the top quartile of the incoming freshman class. Under my top quartile logic the last schools for which he should audition are: UMich (33<em>), CMU (34</em>), and NYU (33*). Of course, these are the schools that are considered tier I for musical theater. Telling him forgetaboutit is going to be a blow.</p>
<p>Is my top quartile logic sound? Even if he bumped his ACT to 32 under this logic wed still be telling him to not bother auditioning for The Big Three. This is not the best motivation to get him to study more late this summer. Is there another financial matrix I should be using to prioritize his audition list? I have access to U.S. News College Compass database, but a great many of the financial aid figures appear to be based on need rather than merit. Finally, is our expectation of keeping all-in costs to $25K per year reasonable for OOS/private schools or do we need to push our budget to $30K/beyond? On this last question ultimately the proof will be in the pudding, though I enjoy receiving everyones prognostications/experiences.</p>
<hr>
<p>*ACT (or SAT-equivalent) score at the bottom of the top quartile of the 2011 incoming freshman class (i.e., the top quartile starts here)</p>
<p>Given the $12K price tag for UMich, I presume the $5.5K in merit aid is for in-state. Thanks for the lead on the NYT article. That will be an interesting read.</p>
<p>Anyway, to get the best merit, the ACT (or SAT) needs to be WELL WITHIN the top quartile. Typically the best merit is given to the top 2-10% (depending on the school).</p>
<p>My kids’ undergrad gives about a 2/3 tuition scholarship for an ACT 30 (which is just at the top 25%). If you have an ACT 32, then you get free tuition. However, this is NOT typical at all.</p>
<p>NYU’s merit is nearly always linked to NEED. And they tend to only give merit to top 5% (not top quartile).</p>
<p>UMich is famous for giving NO merit for scores higher than 33. I’ve seen ACT 35 kids get nothing from UMich.</p>
<p>Your premise is wrong for schools that are that highly ranked. You need to go WAY down the ladder for your premise to work.</p>
<p>There is a musical theater major section of this forum. I would suggest you post there. You will be able to get a sense of what schools do with performance awards, and/or merit awards. Some audition programs do NOT give both!</p>
<p>The top quartile estimate is very crude - as noted above the percentage receiving merit aid can vary from 0% to 50%. Also you may need to be well into the merit group to get the substantial merit you are looking for.</p>
<p>The information you need is included in the Common Data Set for each school. Most of the CDS data is also available in more accessible form at collegedata.com</p>
<p>For example, NYU:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So even if you are midway into the top 3.5%, you are looking at a merit award that reduces NYU COA to $55K or so.</p>
<p>Bob Wallace is absolutely right. When the hard stats tell you that merit money is given to, say 5% of the freshman, being in the top 25% test score wise is not going to make it likely that merit money will be given. If you are looking for large awards, you need to look and see if there are even any such things given at a school. When you can actually count the number of awards given, say 10, or 20 that bring the cost cost to the level you want it, the likelihood of your kid getting one of them is very small. He would have to be one of the very top 10-20 accepted student to be offered one.</p>
<p>Also, MT is a highly specialized field and overall numbers for a school do not apply to such programs. When you are talking about only 10-20 kids accepted to a school MT, program with half being of one gender, the large number analysis becomes useless, and looking at the academic stats is not as helpful either. Though most MT, performing arts programs do look at those academic numbers, the audition can give a kid some slack, but having to apply through the auditon often make even getting admitted to such programs a lottery ticket.</p>
<p>My son applied to many MT programs and only got accepted to 4 of them. He was accepted to NYU, CMU and UMich, but not to the MT programs, and he did not get offered a dime of merit money from the big schools. Even the smaller,lesser known schools gave him no more than $5K of merit, and that was from their arts funds and scholarships. He ended up going to our state program which did also give him some merit money and brought the cost down so that I was able to give him a year or so of living expense money for him to audition without worrying about outside jobs to meet the expenses. You do not want your kid owing money if this is the path he is taking because the “poor starving artist” is a reality. </p>
<p>The chances of getting a sizeable merti award for the big three, CMU, UM and NYU range from zilch to very small. I don’t think CMU even gives out sizeable merit, and the money for NYU and UM merit are small, and are given for academic stats and your kid is just not up there to get one of them. THe MT programs do not tend to have to give money as they have more candidates than they can take. It’s a supply and demand thing, and it’s you that is supplying the programs and colleges. They don’t need to pay kids to do MT. They do, to keep the classics and German departments alive.</p>
<p>Actually one of the few areas that NYU does give true merit aid for is talent. I have first hand knowledge. D1 got $10k per year in talent merit as a vocal performance major (musical theatre) through Steinhardt. D2 just completed freshman year as a studio art major. She did not qualify for merit aid because she applied early decision, but the art department still gives talent merit aid to top students. Same with Tisch for theatre and film. </p>
<p>Academic awards require tippy top stats and are given through the Martin Luther king scholarship.</p>
<p>During our tour of CMU, they proudly announced that they do not give merit scholarships. Of course, there have been talk that they do but only to the students they really want (don’t know if this is true or if the “merit” has incorporated the "need factor). Chances are slim for a sizable amount of merit scholarship to bring down their overall COA.</p>
<p>When D1 was looking at schools in 2007, CMU offered both need based and purely merit scholarships. Currently, outside of ROTC, they offer a merit scholarship that includes need as a factor:</p>
<p>This is still a merit award; not sure why they wouldn’t acknowledge it in a presentation and just explain the details of the need requirements for consideration.</p>
<p>The scholarship that CMU offers still takes need into account. It is there to help out those have expected contribution amounts accourding their fin aid formu very close to what the COA of the school is, and for those with a discrepancy between the FAFSA EFC and the CMU expected contribution. These are the students that CMU really wants, but can see that the finances are going to be an issue. CMU does not meet full need of all of its students, and this is a a way they can affect the tipping point of some students that they want. It’s a need within merit award. They also used to offer an award to female engineering majors and URMs in engineering that were not merit based, but I didn’st see those mentioned. on their current page. </p>
<p>Still only 6% of the kids get this award that averages under $7k. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that those schools are not likely to give someone who does not qualify for any need, much in merit money. To apply to them, means buying lottery tickets, and it’s fine to do that, just be aware what they are. More importantly, the student should cover her base by finding some alternatives that are definitely affordable, highly likely to accept her, and can help her get where she want to go in terms of what she wants to study.</p>
<p>There are lots of schools that you can apply to that you don’t have to guess if they will pay merit aid…they guarantee the money up front. Your son can attend schools in the south for free. Read through …</p>
<p>In answer to the OP’s question. No. There are very few schools where the chances are good that substantial merit money is there for the top quartile, unless the student is in the top part of that top quartile. But there are schools with guaranteed scholarships with firm cut offs where you can be as sure as anything whether you will get the money or not, and those threads are in this section to peruse.</p>
<p>You may want to focus on smaller LAC schools for an undergrad in musical theatre. I’d suggest checking out Webster University in St. Louis. They have a great conservatory in addition to a regular BA and they do give pretty much money to qualified students. There are many, many highly regarded theatre companies in the St. Louis area, as well. It isn’t Broadway, but I do know many people making their living with theatre who come from that area!</p>