Yes it is a good article and I think it will be a helpful program for kids truly in big trouble with loans. I feel bad for them cause I know it was probably just lack of education and knowledge beforehand that they took out massive loans to begin with. The loan thing drives me crazy cause I cringe at what implications this is having on a young persons credit, high interest rates and refusal of mortgages down the road because of crappy credit scores.
Personally, I would not have supported my daughter getting a degree in musical theatre if she would have incurred any college debt.
^^Agree! I would not take out loans for a MT degree unless the student is going to get help from parents to pay it off. There is just not enough income to be made if these students plan on living in big cities and need to support themselves totally. Four years out from school, the kids my D knows who remain in NYC auditioning are those who were not burdened by loans. The ones who had loans have left and gone home–or are now in grad school preparing for other pursuits. The ones who are still in the game are self-supporting (but loan-free) or are getting help from parents/ grandparents.
Interesting article and comments. We are just getting started on this adventure and I find MYSELF not knowing what the heck to do, so I certainly can’t expect my 16 year old, high school junior to. However, we have made it clear that there will be no debt taken on by her or us. Hopefully she understands that when it comes time for applications. We are huge supporters of her going down the MT road (her father and I met in a musical) but we know how difficult the life of an actor is once she’s done. We have many friends that spent years working tours and regional gigs, then decided it was time to try something else. I think that’s part of each person’s journey and we’ll be fine if that’s what she decides to do eventually. I think college can be a place to acquire skills for a career AND learn about yourself/the world, they aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. I know plenty of people who went to college for one thing, and left doing something else. The one thing I HAVE figured out…being a parent is hard!
There are many actors who, in addition to auditioning and performing, do other work, concurrently, to help bring in additional income. Some do headshot photography, some teach private voice or dance, some build websites, or teach/participate in theater workshops. I know actors who work with youth theater…and I even know of an actor who does hair dressing…(a very useful way to supplement an income while on tour) Most actors in NYC do some type of “satellite” work…I believe most of the teachers at BDC and Steps are actor/dancers who teach between bookings and projects. I think it’s very rare indeed to find an actor NOT doing something in addition to auditioning and performing. Besides bringing in extra income it also helps to keep skills sharp…and it keeps the actor involved in networking within the industry. All those college audition coaches at MTCA are…actors…supplementing their incomes. It’s all a part of the territory.
I know some, so it’s worth mentioning that when actors are booking steady work it is very hard to squeeze in auditions, let alone additional paid work. So even those who are performing steadily and earning enough to pay the bills would have a difficult time earning enough extra to make serious inroads toward repaying significant student debt. And steadily-working actors with short breaks between contracts may find it tricky to quickly pick up paying work that they know they’ll walk away from as soon as the next contract starts. For example, I’d expect that few people want a personal trainer, bartender or nanny who is only available very sporadically.
Even very well known people pick up side gigs - for the $$. For example, over the holiday there was an MT clinic in my city which culminated with Patina Miller coming in and listened to the kids sing, giving advice etc. Now there is someone making excellent $$ (tv) but they must have made it worth her while to come in for the day …
I can’t speak for TV schedules, but when people are rehearsing for professional shows and/or performing 8 shows a week plus auditioning and excercising/training it’s a full-time job, particularly if any commutes are involved. I do know that some manage to squeeze in a few extra things, but I personally wouldn’t count on working a survival job concurrently with doing paid MT contracts if your agent gets you a decent number of auditions. Of course between contracts, or possibly on one show performance days (particularly if it’s an exceptionally long contract so you aren’t also auditionng) it could be possible, but I wouldn’t plan on much extra income while you are doing shows (which makes me wonder how anyone can afford to take long underpaid contracts).
I’m certainly not saying working actors never add in concurrent paid work, as I’m sure some do, but I wouldn’t count on that as a way to repay student loans.
I think the point is to avoid debt for college period. Maybe a couple grand might be ok but I know someone who has over 50000 in debt & a hard time figuring out how to make the payment every month. I would say if your kid gets accepted at a great or top name school and it’s going to make that kid take on tons of debt…think long and hard about the time after graduation when the bill comes cause it’s not going to go away. I know my friend told me the other day " oh if (my D) got accepted to CMU (she’s not even auditioning there) you would find a way to send her there right?" … I told her "no, we could never pay for it and I’m not letting her take that debt on just for the sake of school name "
Don’t get caught up in the "brand name is worth the debt " fight .
All of the discussion about avoiding student debt also reinforces the notion of learning which schools offer generous grants (not loans) to those with demonstrated financial need. For example, although D’s school (Northwestern University) has among the most expensive list prices, it is also among the very few schools that guarantee meeting 100% of demonstrated financial need for all admitted students, and at least in our case they did so with grants versus loans.
Yes, everyone needs to really look into merit/ financial aid for themselves and should not just go on hearsay.
As it turned out, NYU was very generous with my D in terms of aid, because they gave her merit aid without need. (Steinhardt) Whereas it’s true that Wesleyan or Vassar can be very generous and meet full need for applicants that qualify–we crossed both schools off our list early in the process since they give no scholarship money without need. Instead we kept on (expensive) schools like NYU, American and GW that did come in with merit aid offers.
Unfortunatly not many meet 100% need and the ones that do are extremely difficult academically, like Northwestern. But there is a big advantage to s school meeting 86% and 58% need. Interpreting sticker prices at schools can be challenging.
Another way to gain money is to look to a lot of external scholarships. For non theatre things such as speech/debate, chess, volunteering, there can be plenty of scholarship opportunities. As far as artistic scholarships go you’d have to look more local because with the exception of Young Arts there are not many national scholarships for actors/singers.
Does anyone have any good news about Indiana U giving merit money to OOS? My D passed that prescreen but I don’t think the sticker price will work for us. I know a couple people did not have good luck with that. When she got her acceptance to the U letter, there was no money mentioned. So if she passes the audition is there money given then? It would need to be more than a couple thousand to make it work. Anyone have some more positive stories?
ps. we would not qualify for regular financial aid as they see it.
@uskoolfish generous is relative.
Some might call lowering sticker price a discount.
If $70,000 a year became $50,000 a year - that is still a net cost of $200,000.
Was NYU that generous?
@mtmcmt- are you looking for merit or need aide? I know an OOS boy attending IU who comes from a high need family. I have NO idea what their financial aide package looked like, but am extrapolating it must have worked
@ClarinetDad16 - based on your example above- and I have no idea if that reflects uskoolish’s aide package in any way shape or form… personally, I would consider getting more than 1/4 of tuition paid for at any school “generous” aide.
No, we are not going to get anything based on FAFSA if that clarifies. I was wondering if anyone heard of Indiana giving a 10,000 or more discount to OOS based on audition?
@ClarientDad16 I think a $20,000 scholarship per year is pretty generous, no matter the sticker price. My kid got $20,000/year scholarship at NYU, though at the time, the sticker price to NYU was around $55,000 or so. In any case, the school was very worth it for my daughter.
@mtmcmt - We know some kids who go/went to IU and make the assumption that their families were OK with the cost (one started as a VP major, so maybe the financial equation was different for him). Not to brag, but two years ago S was a fairly desirable candidate for IU (most likely b/c he’s a male who can dance??). He was accepted very quickly after his audition and offered a $3-4000 talent scholarship (can’t remember exactly). We had no financial need, based on FAFSA, and do not fall into any “underrepresented” category). As discussed elsewhere, he also received top OOS merit scholarships (including their paltry - yes, “paltry” - NMF scholarship) that did not cover the OOS tuition differential (even with talent scholarship, it did not meet OOS). He went back to theater department to see if they could do better and was told they realized this was a problem, but did not have the kind of money to make a sweeter offer. By the time MT acceptances came out, it was too late to pursue any other financial options at IU, and it’s doubtful S would have qualified for anything more - there is heavy preference for in-state at IU. S’s scholarship total came to more than the $20, 000 discussed in examples above, and is indeed a large amount of money. But IU is not a cheap school to begin with - for OUR family’s college-cost parameters - and we/S would have had to take on substantial debt to make it work. H and I are still a little sad about the academic education he is NOT getting at IU, but for S’s immediate - and long term - plans, the decision works for OUR situation.
My daughter was given merit monies that made a very expensive private college less expensive than our state schools. We were very fortunate…
Unfortunately, though IU a fantastic program that fit most of D’s desires, it didn’t make her final list because we knew, being OOS, that she would not be offered enough money to make it feasible for her to attend. We did have other expensive schools that did make her list (like the school one she attends), but we carefully and realistically looked at each school’s scholarship/aid history.