Negotiating scholarships / financial aid - how to?

connections
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 16:42:08 +0000

There will be a huge range of responses in each school. There are many unknowable factors, but the main ones overall are: the money available, the autonomy of the theatre department, how much they want you.

Outside of basic need-based offers (as long as you are accurate in running a NPC), it is impossible to predict specifically what an individual school’s offer will be or how they will react in your case. However, there is certainly probability–you can easily look at each school’s record of meeting need based aid in grants/scholarships (what percentage), record of merit/talent aid, and their overall endowment. It’s very hard to tell how much autonomy the theatre department has within the larger school, however. Some theatre departments have much more autonomy than others, and are therefore more free to decide whom to give money to, how to assign the money etc.

It never hurts to ask, ever. However, it does hurt to have unrealistic expectations going into the process. It is imperative to apply to a wide range of schools from a financial perspective. As I’ve written earlier, I strongly suggest applying to at least 2 schools that are financial safeties regardless of the status of their theatre department. This way, you are not left with getting into, say, 2 BFA programs both of which you can’t afford. A driven kid can always forge a good education in theatre; there are many ways to do this, including classes outside the college via other colleges, theatres, internships, casting agencies, theatre schools, individual classes.