Hi CanaDad! I went through the audition process about 5 years ago, and wound up at Viterbo University. The strategy that worked for my family was to apply only to schools where the total COA was under 40k yearly before scholarships (ideally under 35k, but to be honest, that wouldn’t even be possible at Viterbo these days). Additionally, I had excellent academic stats and only applied to schools where I knew I was going to get good merit aid (in the $5-10k range). I’m not going to lie, it meant that my list looked VERY different from some of my friends’, and it meant leaving off a LOT of excellent programs. I would suggest looking at EmsDad’s post on what schools with well-known MT programs give the best merit aid (here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1745140-which-schools-give-the-best-merit-aid-another-freakonomics-post-p1.html). It’s a few years old, but it’s a great starting point.
Also, I fully recommend trying to negotiate with financial aid by leveraging other offers. I was able to get a few thousand dollars more out of my financial aid office by coming to them with an offer from another school where I was awarded a larger merit scholarship.