Budgetwise, we ‘could’ pay full price if we felt it was worth it. We won’t qualify for need based aid and have money saved for college, but we’d like to stay around 60k if at all possible. If he gets into a dream school, we could make full pay work if we had to but we don’t want to pay an over-inflated price for a school that really won’t be worth it in the long run. Suny schools are definitely the best deal price-wise, but he just doen’t love them. He’s played with a few of the professors from Suny schools and they are brilliant, but the schools and orchestras were not what he is looking for. He did like the vibe at Ithaca and will be playing with the violin professor there in a few weeks.
What he is really looking for is spectacular music even if it’s not a conservatory. He knows Harvard, Yale, Princeton will have phenomenal orchestras and performance opportunities. We’ve heard Williams and Amherst are also strong in music. But, these are all crazy high reaches.
We were looking to see if anyone has had experience playing very high level music at traditional liberal arts schools or universities. He lives and breathes music, so it’s the number one criteria for him even if he’s getting a BA degree.
Thanks!