Financing grad school for MM in performance

bridgenail
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 00:32:01 +0000

Grad students are independent…and ALL are financially needy. So the process is different from UG. I’m not an expert but there was no FAFSA. If anyone knows more about “need” hopefully they will speak up.

In our experience, grad students got scholarships, TAs, fellowships etc to lower tuition. My D got a fellowship to cover most tuition so we never pursued need (if it were even available). The fellowship was nice bc she didn’t have to “work” for it, like a TA. So she was able to get a separate job to cover the remaining fees and some personal expenses. The bank of mom and dad paid room and board.

Most of my D’s friends were paying some tuition and room and board. There are of course free programs but the competition is fierce (for VP for Curtis and Rice that could be 2 or 3 spots annually for both!). So you can’t count on that…but my D went to a less selective state school and got a good deal. She was accepted at selective conservatory/programs with 50% tuition to nothing. Note that my D had a few friends go to schools in NYC for grad school paying full freight…bc their families could. Schools don’t have to be “free” to fill a class. There is more demand for spots than supply. So (besides free programs) we saw a real mix in offers from selective (and less selective) schools highly dependent on the needs of the school…meaning from full tuition to nothing. My D found out after entering her school they needed a performance ready mezzo for their fall opera…so they were willing to discount for that.

And for health insurance until 26, a young adult can be independent and filing their own taxes and remain on their parents’ insurance. They do not need to be a student. They can even have a spouse and a baby and still be on their parents’ insurance until age 26. My D remained on my insurance until 26. We experienced no consequences. My work is related to insurance so…no worries there…presently…

I hope this helps.