@ClarinetDad16 Yes, I understand how scholarships work and the competitive nature!!! And while we were thrilled that our son did receive scholarship $$ I would NEVER say he had more of a chance at succeeding in school because of it! That is just crazy!!! Not buying it and would definitely not want my son to have this attitude towards his college career. No wonder there are so many kids with little to know work ethic and crappy, entitled attitudes! (And adults for that matter)
I would assume in the clarinet world, how you play matters, not who is playing. Who is doing the playing in MT (or straight theatre) actually matters. So what does the person at the top even mean in the MT world and how would a school even know it when they see it? A true triple threat who is better at acting, singing and dance than any other person is at any one or two of those aspects? Do those people even exist objectively or is it always subjective? And if they do, what if you are that person but the role requires you also to be a 30 something year old 5’10 or better Hispanic male and you are an 5’4" 20 year old Caucasian female? Or the role has a ton of singing and next to no dancing? Or visa versa. Or though it has singing and dancing, the depth of the acting skill required to deliver it effectively far trumps anything else? Or it requires comedic chops and though you are breathtaking in a dramatic role, you don’t have the timing for comedy?
Then you can also layer in things like, being the best at taking direction. Being the person who is always prepared and the directors want to work with. Having the best chemistry with a cast mate and on and on. Seriously, I don’t know what top even means in this world and how on earth anyone could then draw the correlation that merit money is somehow tied to being best and wanted most. Seems to me it’s a situational moving target.
@halflokum Amen!!!
Some schools give merit money based totally on need (this was our experience with our VP major son who is currently in his third year at Juilliard … they didn’t give money if no financial need was demonstrated. His class is 3 boys and 5 girls and they are all stellar). Eastman, FSU, and CCM all offered merit, non-need based money. It depends on the individual school’s philosophy. We turned down merit money to go to Juilliard, because that’s where our son felt the best fit. We don’t regret it and his not receiving merit money there has had nothing to do with the many casting and performance opportunities he’s had.
@ClarinetDad16 - you seem incredibly certain you are correct. can you please give ANY anecdotal evidence with BFA majors in MT or acting programs for support? Do you have experience in the theater world? I have not seen any from your posts in this or other threads- but perhaps I am mistaken. The music world and the theater world have many similarities, but also important differences. It would be like assuming things work the same for a college football player and a college basketball player. (And maybe they do- I know NOTHING about that world)
If a school gives out talent monies and doles those monies to the kids THEY feel have the most talent for THEIR program and want to entice them to choose their program then I would guess that those auditors believe those students are the most talented. But it certainly doesn’t mean the next school will feel the same way about those same kids. Subjective subjective subjective.
If this is true anywhere in the MT world (which I’m not sure it is), it may be true for only a very few students - most likely talented, handsome, tall, masculine guys, and even then I’m guessing there’s a real bidding war for fewer than 6 of them in any given year.
While most kids who graduate with MT degrees may never work professionally in the field, there IS work for more than the very few kids who will be actively pursued by top schools.
@toowonderful he seems to be an expert on all colleges and not just performing arts related schools. I too would like to know where he gets his wealth of knowledge and the basis for his opinions.
@MomCares I didn’t write the passage quoted that you tagged me in. That was written by @ClarinetDad16 just to be clear
Ooops, I should have omitted your name from the part I cut and pasted from @ClarinetDad16’s post. Hope that doesn’t confuse others!
Lol. Just didn’t want others to think I feel that way because I don’t! 
^^^ But merit money doesn’t always go to the most talented kids in the MT world. Here’s an example…bass males are a rare commodity. A school may give a bass more money simply b/c every school needs a bass and they are all competing for him. It doesn’t mean he is the most talented. Or, a school may be in desperate need of an ethnic actor. They may offer merit aid to that applicant over a caucasian applicant…it doesn’t mean the ethnic actor is better.
I think we can confidently conclude that something doesn’t become true just because it is repeated again and again with ever increasing frequency and volume. There was some very interesting discussion here which is always welcome. But at some point, respect in this forum is earned by people who are willing to learn and to acknowledge what they do not know. It makes for healthy discussion. But one can’t just force a point that doesn’t fit and expect respect. The five minutes for that is up.
Do you have any experience in MT BFA programs/auditions/admissions? No? Okay bye.
:-@
One can roll the dice @ 70,000 a year without merit and without parts and claim it was a great decision.
Others can gravitate to where they too study with great faculty, get great merit and great parts and feel it was a great decision.
Everyone has their point of view and over time is merit better than no merit? Is a lot of experience better than a little experience? Those are the choices one needs to make.
OP here. Dead horse, well and truly flogged. Let’s move on, folks.
I do hope everyone really reads and thinks about the article linked in the OP. It provides real data, and is sobering. I was shocked to see on one chart that only 1.4% of students surveyed graduated debt-free, which for us was a must.
… and that median $35k was only among the ~43% who booked ANY paying theatre work. In my opinion, this is not a career in which one should plan on being able to repay much, if any, student debt.
I completely agree with @MomCares about debt- but saw this on another forum and found it interesting.
That’s interesting @MomCares that article about NY paying for the difference in federal loans. I think that’s great and all as I know a lot of kids struggling with this …But… We can’t tell our kids to take out debt in large amount hoping that in the future after graduation it’ll " be ok" cause they’ll get some form of debt forgiveness. You can’t teach your kids to bail out on responsibility. It’s the reason this country has issues to begin with ( of course thats another discussion) college students need to realize their actions have consequences. I still think this needs to be addressed in great detail senior year. Best not to take much or any on to begin with, not with a theatre degree or many others for that matter. I know I’ll take slack for it but I would feel a bit better about a small loan if my D was going into a field with high job prospects. The odds are just better in other fields.
@theaterwork- I totally agree- again, I just thought the article itself was interesting