My son T is a pretty good clarinet player. He made second to higher band as freshman in high school and I anticipate he will grow into a pretty competitive player. He also started learning the saxophone and it seems he is moving well on that as well. However, his academic grades are kind of middle of the road. He wants to double major in music and computer science. I am a single parent and really would like him to get scholarships to lessen the student loans. I am working with him to get the grades up. What can I honestly expect scholarship wise?
Depending on your income level and your state of residency, the in-state public universities may or may not have sufficient need based financial aid.
For need based financial aid, each college should have a net price calculator on its web site to help you estimate financial aid.
As a single parent, be aware that some colleges do require both parents’ finances for need based financial aid. Most of them are listed at https://profile.collegeboard.org/profile/ppi/participatinginstitutions.aspx with a Yes in the second-to-last column. Most other colleges require only the finances of the custodial parent (the one who provides the greater amount of financial support).
For merit scholarships, these are usually most accessible to applicants who are near the top end of the applicant cohort at colleges that offer merit scholarships. He will need to significantly improve his academic performance, since a B- / 2.7 GPA will give a very limited range of colleges where that level is at the top end of the applicant cohort.
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I’d recommend you pose that question in this forum…Music Major - College Confidential Forums
Your in state options might be best. My A students who wanted to go oos had difficulty getting enough merit to get tuition down to in state levels, which are about $33,000 or so a year. They also had great test scores and were in the top 10 in thei classes.
Some state schools do give an additional small amount of scholarship to kids who play in the orchestra or the marching band, but only as long as they continue to play. It will not be enough to make a big dent in tuition.
If he is really into the music, and can get private lessons (sometimes there are band funds to pay for private lessons for promising players), and practices a ton, and plays in the best local bands he can get into (magnet youth orchestra, magnet jazz band), there might be a band scholarship to certain schools with marching bands, but again, these probably aren’t going to pay that much in scholarship money.
Being a really good musician can sometimes get you into schools above what your grades might have warranted, but it is very rare for it to get you much merit money.
If money is tight, you need to be looking at state public schools, especially state publics that he can commute to. Depending upon where you live, that might be the perfect match for him. Imagine the kid who lives near ASU or UNT.
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I know someone who received a band scholarship from Clemson. I don’t know the details, but looking at their website, there are quite a few - of undisclosed amounts and with certain preferences (from instrument to state of residency to high school attended.)
My guess is that most schools with big, selective marching bands have versions of the same. (And thank goodness, these kids put in tons of time and effort.) It may take some sleuthing to figure out what is available and where, so I’d start with your in state flagship and branch out from there, targeting schools with big marching bands. He may also want to think about attending one of the summer programs these schools sponsor for high school students - to improve his skills, understand the programs and expectations, demonstrate interest, and to gather intel on that world in general.
Btw, there are also scholarships for other types of music (jazz band, orchestra, etc). These may have more competition from students who are making music performance their focus, but that’s only a guess on my part.
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