MTA confirms it's closing

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Munchpot
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MTA confirms it's closing

Post by Munchpot »

Sad news but the MTA has confirmed they will be shutting at the end of the academic year after they failed to secure promised funding.

https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/drama-s ... r-14-years
lawn
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Re: MTA confirms it's closing

Post by lawn »

Sad to hear that yet another reputable drama school has bit the dust. I did think it odd when I heard that they were still recruiting for students this summer. Funding IMO was always an issue there as how many can afford fees + rent = living costs for 2 years. If you've got ways of making it work eg student can live at home or with relatives cheaply and commute then it might be possible but it limits your market.
Harry2003
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Re: MTA confirms it's closing

Post by Harry2003 »

This makes me really sad to hear this. Looked like a fabulous place to train. It sounds, from the Stage article. that it must have been a very frustrating and upsetting last few months. I hope all student attached to the school can find suitable training.
Mammamia
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Re: MTA confirms it's closing

Post by Mammamia »

Sounds like it’s a fantastic place to train. Circumstances leading to its closure are very unfortunate.
There have been so many issues lately with racism etc in certain colleges and yet they’re all still operating.
Makes you wonder really
lawn
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Re: MTA confirms it's closing

Post by lawn »

£32K to train or £31k if you didn't need to pay in termly installments. How many of us can afford that in tuition fees alone and for those that can, they have probably spent the money at an earlier stage such as at a PA related private secondary school or sixth form, so by time child is 16/18 they're on a diploma/degree elsewhere.

The Principal used to post on here, the school had a lovely ethos and were the first I believe to fetch up issues around mental health and drama schools with their Time to Change campaign. When the issue of funding came up it used to be suggested to look to a Career development loan but they stopped being available to new borrowers in early 2019, a year before the pandemic, which also won't have helped.
jacsrab
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Re: MTA confirms it's closing

Post by jacsrab »

lawn wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 1:14 pm £32K to train or £31k if you didn't need to pay in termly installments. How many of us can afford that in tuition fees alone and for those that can, they have probably spent the money at an earlier stage such as at a PA related private secondary school or sixth form, so by time child is 16/18 they're on a diploma/degree elsewhere.

The Principal used to post on here, the school had a lovely ethos and were the first I believe to fetch up issues around mental health and drama schools with their Time to Change campaign. When the issue of funding came up it used to be suggested to look to a Career development loan but they stopped being available to new borrowers in early 2019, a year before the pandemic, which also won't have helped.

Fees for Arts Ed now are £16,000 x 3 for a BA MT course, so that's £48,000 , covered by £27,000 ( + interest) of student loan/debt which STILL has to paid plus a top up of the rest (£21,000) Include in that 3 years of accommodation instead of 2. It's an expensive choice whichever way you choose.
lawn
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Re: MTA confirms it's closing

Post by lawn »

jacsrab wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 2:02 pm
lawn wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 1:14 pm £32K to train or £31k if you didn't need to pay in termly installments. How many of us can afford that in tuition fees alone and for those that can, they have probably spent the money at an earlier stage such as at a PA related private secondary school or sixth form, so by time child is 16/18 they're on a diploma/degree elsewhere.

The Principal used to post on here, the school had a lovely ethos and were the first I believe to fetch up issues around mental health and drama schools with their Time to Change campaign. When the issue of funding came up it used to be suggested to look to a Career development loan but they stopped being available to new borrowers in early 2019, a year before the pandemic, which also won't have helped.

Fees for Arts Ed now are £16,000 x 3 for a BA MT course, so that's £48,000 , covered by £27,000 ( + interest) of student loan/debt which STILL has to paid plus a top up of the rest (£21,000) Include in that 3 years of accommodation instead of 2. It's an expensive choice whichever way you choose.
Not the same thing. With a student loan you pay back on what you earn not on what you owe and as a % when you earn above a certain amount over a current 30 year term (40 from next year). If you always earn under the amount you'll never pay anything back. In addition you also have a maintenance loan which even if the minimum amount gives you something towards rent/living costs not nothing at all. That's different to having to literally find £32K + rent + living costs over a 2 year period. Arts Ed and Mountview are more expensive because you can't borrow the full fees from student loans, you can only borrow around £6K per year unlike say GSA when tuition costs are met in full from student finance.
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