Musical Theatre College Coaching - Prices

soozievt
Mon, 29 Dec 2014 01:47:56 +0000

Universities do fundraising for scholarship funds. Private businesses do not have this funding. It doesn’t make sense to truly believe that someone will offer a significant discount to a total stranger when they are trying to earn a living. Students who are going to ultimately try to earn a living in theatre need to be resourceful in order to make ends meet once they graduate. They can’t expect hand-outs to survive. If someone wants coaching and finds it out of reach financially, I would look more in the direction of figuring out how my child or I can earn extra money, rather than expecting a reduction because we feel we are qualified and want to rely on other’s good will.



Exactly. A scholarship from a university is financed into their budget and comes from fundraising, endowments, and the like. A private person who is working to earn a living in a business or service rarely can afford to offer the service for free. They might offer a variety of service options at different price points. I know I do. If someone can’t afford a full package, there are smaller/cheaper options, and these provide less services. I would be curious the kind of profession that the person posting who is hoping for scholarships from coaches has themselves. Do they offer services or products for free? Just wondering. I agree that if coaching is not affordable, either just take a few sessions, find a cheaper option, find a teacher/director who can advise you who doesn’t do this as part of their regular job but may help you since they know you, or have your child earn some extra money for these sessions, which in the end are a drop in the bucket when you think of what four years’ worth of tuition/room/board will be. Most applicants that I know had some sort of help with audition prep…could be their regular voice teacher (as was the case with my kid), a teacher or community theater person, or a specialized audition coach. This is not much different than a kid who is applying to conservatory for cello who works with a cello teacher to prepare pieces for auditions. It really is a part of this process, but there are various price points for this help. I would not consider asking a cello teacher for a scholarship when they make their living that way.



I suspect some audition coaches may accept some kids who are ultra-attractive packages on spec, so when they’re admitted to awesome schools the coach can claim some of the credit for that placement. This might be viewed as a Marketing expense. Does that happen?



That was discussed earlier on this thread in relation to a particular acting coach who does offer scholarships and who does publicize where each student is admitted, etc.