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What Music School Can Cost You, Even With a Full Ride: Calculating the True Cost of Higher Education

With audition season in full swing, many talented high school seniors are about to be accepted into their dream schools. Perhaps you are one of them hoping to enter a big-name conservatory in the fall, maybe with a teacher whom you have admired for years. Some fortunate students will receive scholarship offers up to a “full ride” covering tuition completely. If you are in this category, you may be surprised to find that you could still be getting a bill for school, even with a full ride. Read on to learn how to decipher your award letter and total up the hidden cost of music school. The finances of music school can be daunting, so read to the end for ideas of additional financial support and ways to cut down on costs while in college.

Tuition is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of college costs. If you received a full ride, your financial award letter may have included a tuition waiver. These waivers can cover partial amounts, such as an out-of-state waiver that reduces tuition for out-of-state students to the same amount paid by in-state students, to full tuition waivers. The financial aid office at your institution is your friend in explaining what kind of waiver you have. Be sure to read any documents you receive very carefully to be sure you understand it, and be sure to contact the financial aid office when you have questions.

In addition to tuition, schools also charge fees to students. These fees can include parking fees, technology fees, student activity fees, new student fees, graduation fees, and athletics fees, to name a few. Some schools will cover the cost of fees in a full ride; others will not. Be sure to clarify whether fees are covered in your financial aid package. Some of the fees are charged each semester, and some are charged only once. In order to cover fees, you may need to seek out other sources of funding. Grants and scholarship are two sources of funding. Performance and need-based scholarship may be available through the school, and don’t be hesitant to look for outside scholarships as well. Local and national grants are another great source of funds. Ask the financial aid office if you need to do anything beyond your application in order to qualify for these sources of funding.

Now a note about financial aid. Some financial aid may be offered in the form of loans. In contrast to all the other forms of financial aid listed previously, a loan must be repaid, often with interest. My personal path was to attend schools where I could attend without going into debt, and I recommend you consider the same method of financing college. If you do determine that loans are necessary, be sure you understand the terms of the loan. Ask questions like “What does the interest rate mean?” and “When do payments begin?” Be sure to consider the source of any financial advice you receive and talk to professionals in your field to see how they navigated student loans. You might be surprised how many college grads are still paying on their own student loans.

Now back to the costs. Consider the expense of Room and Board. Are you allowed to live off campus, or are you required to live in the dorms? How much is a meal plan? You may receive a stipend intended to cover some or all of these expenses. Be sure to compare the cost of room and board with your stipend amount to determine what portion you will still be responsible to pay. In addition, school-related expenses can vary based on your unique situation. The price of textbooks vary semester to semester based on your classes. You will want to have your instrument insured and be prepared for incidental expenses like reeds, strings, etc. Be sure to budget for instrument insurance and maintenance.

Although this information may seem overwhelming, here are some questions to consider to help make sense of it all. First, what does your financial aid cover? Be sure to read the fine print carefully and don’t hesitate to ask the financial aid office for clarification. Look for terms like tuition waiver (out-of-state, in-state), scholarship, stipend, and work study (a campus job you can work). A work study is not free money, but rather work you do for the university, like a part-time job. Check to see whether payment for work study is paid directly to you or applied to your school bill. If you are fortunate enough to have scholarship, grant, or stipend money left over after all expenses are covered, be sure to ask if it can be used for expenses outside of tuition (Textbooks, music supplies). If you are using loans to cover these expenses, remember that you will need to repay that amount eventually.

Ways to offset costs

Assuming you have some associated costs remaining beyond financial aid, here are some ideas to consider.

1. Negotiate a better financial aid offer. Were you accepted into multiple schools and received differing financial aid packages? It never hurts to ask if the school you most want to attend can match the scholarship offer from another school.
2. Cut related expenses. Look into getting roommates and cooking at home. Buy used textbooks when possible.
3. Work a part-time job. For musicians, these jobs can include orchestral performing, teaching music lessons, working on campus. Find other work using your unique skill set and be open non-music jobs.
4. Defer your acceptance. Sometimes schools will allow you to defer your acceptance for a semester or longer. If you have some financial aid at the school you want to attend, but are not able to go right away, consider asking to defer your acceptance. Take the time off of school to work and be financially ready for college. Although it may feel like a step backward to take a year off right out of high school, this option can be prudent for your financial health, in some cases.

There is no one-size-fits-all music school for every musician. I hope you find a way to make your musical education affordable and accessible. If you have other advice for music students preparing for the financial aspects of musical education, leave it in the comments below.

Hello everyone!
As I write this update, I am recovering from jetlag after one of the most memorable trips of my life. Having spent nearly three weeks in South Africa, I agree heartily with those who say that travel is life changing. The trip involved time ministering at Paardeberg Mountain Retreat, attending the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, and sightseeing around Cape Town. Below I’ve summarized the trip in roughly chronological order with some pictures to help you visualize it for yourself.

Paardeberg Mountain Retreat (PMR)

Following a 14-hour flight from Atlanta, I arrived in Cape Town and was driven by missionary Holly Gilbert to PMR. Here is a Google Maps view for reference.

Arriving at night, I knew that we had driven up a mountain, but I was not prepared for the sheer beauty of the scene before me when I awoke the next morning (see the image carousel below)! Situated in wine country, the mountain sits above a vineyard, and everywhere you look, there are more mountains. The sky is constantly changing with mountains covered in mist and cloud for a time until the sun comes out and reveals the mountains in all their glory. Being in the southern hemisphere,  June and July are both winter and the rainy season, so many days were cold and rainy, especially during this first week.

PMR is similar to Christian summer camps in the US with games, services, and devotional times. However, camps in South Africa are held in the winter because the heat of the summer would be unbearable. Temperatures went into the 40s Fahrenheit, and sleeping arrangements were without heat during the entire trip. Never have I ever been more thankful for blankets!

Most people I met in South Africa were bilingual, or trilingual. I learned several new words both in English and in Afrikaans. The English words I learned first hand were “load shedding,” their term for planned electrical blackouts. No one enjoys them, but they are a way of life. The times are different every day, and there is an app that tells you the load shedding time(s) for the upcoming days. Load shedding was around 2 hours per day during the majority of my stay, increasing to 6 hours a day during the last few days in the country. Last year at this time, the load shedding lasted for up to 11 hours each day. At night everyone pulls out their “torches” (flashlights) to make up for the electricity being out. We ate in the dark, played in the dark, showered in the dark, etc. Never will I take electricity for granted again.

Campers and staff moved in pairs when outside for multiple reasons. South Africa is not the safest place in the world, and gang activity has been creeping nearer the camp. In addition, a group of baboons lives near the camp! Baboons can grow very large and are known to steal things left lying around – even small children! I did not see any baboons until my last day in the country, but I did see their finger smudges on the glass doors and windows!

I helped with the music at the camp, and at a church in nearby Paarl on Sunday. After every service, the youth came up asking questions of the speaker. Seeing such eager and receptive hearts encouraged me. One camper made a salvation decision the week I was there. Praise the Lord! Following PMR, the next leg of my journey took place at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival.

Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF)

Stellenbosch is 30 minutes south of PMR, and the drive is, of course, beautiful. I heard about the SICMF through a friend who was an exchange student from South Africa. You can read that story here.

My hopes were high, and they were not disappointed. The days were full of nonstop activities, often beginning at 7 AM and finishing after 10 PM with a faculty concert. Speaking of the faculty, they were astounding! Just among the cello faculty, three countries were represented in David Cohen, new principal cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra, Boris Andrianov, on faculty at the Moscow Conservatory, and festival director Peter Martens of South Africa.

252 students arrived at the Konservatorium at the University of Stellenbosch from at least 10 different countries that I counted. Events included coachings with faculty, evening faculty concerts, Q & A sessions, masterclasses, and orchestra and chamber music rehearsals. It was as close to musical heaven on earth as I could get for 10 days. Concerts were livestreamed in the magnificent Endler Hall with a generator keeping the lights on during load shedding!

My favorite Afrikaans word that I learned was lekker (pronounced similarly to “lacquer”), means something to the effect of “nice,” “cool,” “neat,” etc. It is treated almost like an English word (“That’s lekker, man!”), and I think I will add it to my everyday vocabulary. One highlight of the festival was substituting for a cellist on a movement of the Kapustin Piano Trio. Learning the challenging part overnight for coachings and performance was exhilarating!

How was the food? I’m glad you asked, because that brings me to another favorite Afrikaans word, biltong. Biltong is a dried meat similar to beef jerky with many options for spices and flavorings including the distinctly South African spice peri-peri. A new friend was kind enough to take me out to get some biltong, and I enjoyed it very much. However, I’m told that to get the best, one must visit a butcher. Maybe next time!

After saying goodbye to many new friends and colleagues who I miss dearly, a few days remained for sightseeing.

Sightseeing

Sightseeing also included some great food with world-famous fish and chips at Hout Bay, which at one time was its own country. Holly Gilbert was a wonderful tour guide and told me of another South African spice named “mother in law.” Mother in law gives food its “kick.” If you get too much MIL, balance it out with a little sugar!

The top of the iconic table mountain offered a bird’s eye view of of Cape Town, a few of the other mountains, and Robben Island where Nelson Mandella was imprisoned. The sun was shining during all of sightseeing, and the view of dusk was indescribable. The pictures below have no filters or color correction. I’ve seen pictures thinking they must have been enhanced in some way, but the country is truly beautiful with colors changing by the second as the sun sets.

There is another side to South Africa. Despite the beauty of the land and the natural resources of gold, silver, diamonds, and other precious stones, great poverty still lingers. Holly insisted on showing me some of the settlements, cities of small huts made mostly of sheets of tin. Nothing can describe the sinking feeling that accompanies seeing such conditions for the first time. I had seen pictures of this in grade school, but part of me felt like conditions would have improved. Trash was disposed of by tossing it across the street in some settlements, with the largest settlement, Khayelitsha, spreading out for miles (kilometers) in each direction. Priorities are evident as one of the pictures above shows rows of satellite dishes outside one of the settlements!

Back to a more pleasant topic, South Africa, and Cape Town in particular, is one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet, I am told. In addition to being the native land for flowers like calla lilies and protea, many animals also live here. Among the animals I saw were penguins, ostrich, seals, and on the final day of my visit, a family of baboons!

Coda

I am so grateful to everyone who made this trip a reality. To everyone who donated and prayed, the fact that I made it through the trip safely and with as much energy as I did is a testament that your prayers worked! I am indebted to Holly Gilbert and the PMR staff for letting me jump into the work and for showing me around the sights and sounds of Cape Town. The SICMF was so well run – impressive on every level. This trip was truly the trip of a lifetime. Each day I felt like I needed to pinch myself and wake up because of the unbelievable grandeur of it all. Thank you.

p.s. For those who have asked if I got my shirt back, ironically I did not. Cornel who has my shirt was actually working on a cruise ship and was not in the country. What are the chances?

A Lost Shirt

Hello, my name is Jonathan Simmons. I am a cellist currently in school full time working on my Doctorate of Musical Arts, and this summer I head out of the country for the first time to attend the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF) June 30 – July 9, 2023 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. How did I come to choose to attend the festival or even find out about it? The answer has to do with a lost shirt.

Cornèl, right, and me, left (and my shirt!)

Last semester, I met Cornèl, an exchange student from South Africa, at school. He is a great pianist, cellist, and composer. We became friends, and I even premiered one of his compositions. I lent him a dress shirt he could wear for concerts throughout the semester, but come summer, he returned to South Africa and with him went my shirt! He sent me a text to say he still had my shirt, and it became a running joke that I would need to schedule a trip to South Africa to get it back.

I kept the possibility of a trip to SA in the back of my mind, but I didn’t think it would be feasible to visit  just for pleasure. Then Cornèl mentioned the chamber music festival, and that got me thinking…

Why Now?

As I looked into the SICMF, it looked amazing. In addition to chamber music, there are great faculty members such as cellists Peter Martens and Boris Andrianov and a full orchestral experience playing alongside them. The director, Peter Martens is a fantastic cellist, and other distinguished faculty come from far and wide. I noticed that the age limit for the festival is 28 years old. This summer I will be 28, so that means this year would be my last year to be within the age limit to participate. This summer will be the last possible year for me to attend the festival.

With such a short time to arrange the details, I’ve begun to raise money to attend the festival. I will be hosting fundraising concerts in several cities including Greenville, SC, Greensboro, NC, and Clinton, SC. If you are in one of those cities, I would love to see you at one of the concerts! More details are forthcoming. Also, if you are in the southeast and would be interested in hosting a concert, please contact me, and let’s talk about that.

Costs

In addition to the cost of the festival itself, there are other costs associated with getting there. The largest cost is plane tickets, yes plural. Many people do not know that cellos cannot be checked baggage, or else bad things could happen.

A cello destroyed while a checked baggage item.

Other expenses include international health insurance, passport, a suitcase fit for international travel, and other unexpected expenses (there are sure to be some!). I anticipate the total cost of the trip being around $5,000.

About the Festival

About an hour away from Cape Town, the festival is hosted by Stellenbosch University. The festival is designed

to promote and pro-actively develop a deep love of classical music, to help young music talent grow to full potential and to create opportunities for young musicians to further their music studies.

The festival achieves this by:

Creating opportunities for interaction between a broad and diverse spectrum of musicians who participate in a variety of chamber music groups as well as in the festival orchestras.
An extensive community development and partnership programme that exposes talented young musicians and learners from music development programmes to tuition, coaching and personal mentoring from internationally renowned musicians and performers.
Providing budding young musicians with a performing platform that showcases this young talent.

About South Africa

Yes, there are some great safari spots nearby, and I’m hopeful there will be time to see the great wildlife. Nearby  familiar cities are Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope. There are rolling electrical blackouts throughout the day, so I will need to bring a charger for any electronics that I bring.

Benefits of the Trip

The musical education available is a primary motivation for my trip to Stellenbosch, but American also has wonderful summer music festivals. Why do I want to go overseas? Great question. I’m glad you asked!

One of my career goals is to teach cello at the college level. Many schools require or give preference to candidates with international musical experience. This trip will be my first time traveling internationally, and because SICMF is a well-regarded music festival, the experience also would give me an edge as I begin to apply for jobs. Oh, and my shirt is there!

Get involved

If you would like to keep up to date, sign up for email updates. If you are inclined, check out my GoFundMe to help with expenses. Thank you, and feel free to contact me with any questions.