I’ll be applying to colleges next year, but every school I’ve considered is either unaffordable or has unimpressive or hard to find alumni and faculty portfolios. Do you guys know of any decent programs that don’t have the price tags of top art schools?
Additionally, it would be helpful if you have any information on graphic design or similar programs at the following schools:
UCincinnati DAAP
Queens College CUNY
FIT NYC
A four year degree is expensive but if you have the grades/test scores and a decent portfolio, you might get some great scholarship money. Here are the schools that we found had good GD programs and offered a lot of merit aid.
Pratt
RIT
Temple U.
University of Hartford
What state are you in? What are your grades and SAT scores like? It may be that the public unis in your home state offer strong art programs, but I can’t check that if I don’t know what state you’re in. If they do, you’d get the lower, in-state rate on tuition there, which may help a lot. Similarly, if your grades/SAT scores align with the averages for certain schools that offer good aid, that may help - but I can’t check that for you without knowing your grades/SAT scores.
The three schools you listed have good graphic design programs. If you are in-state NY, then FIT and Queens will be bargains for you, and you may also want to look at SUNY Purchase and SUNY New Paltz, which also have strong graphic design programs. You’d be in state for all of these schools, and they are all public, so you get the in state rate on tuition there. In addition, if your family makes less than $100k/year, you may be eligible for the Empire scholarship. And if your grades and SAT scores are high enough, you can look at McCaulay Honors at Queens.
I live in Alabama and we don’t really have any good programs here. The SUNYs and Queens have most of my attention because, even though I’m out of state, they still seem like the most affordable options with decent to great programs. I’ve never taken nor do I plan to take the SAT, but my ACT score is currently a 31 which is around a 1410. My parents make over $100k and my only sibling is too old to count as a dependent. This means it highly improbable that I’ll qualify for any need based aid programs. In reality, my parents are terrible with finances so my EFC is about 4x the amount they can actually give me. Most of the institutional scholarships are for residents, so I’ve already accepted that I have to count on outside scholarships as my saving grace. @RoaringMice
SUNY Purchase?
@techmom99 yeah, I’ve added that and new paltz to my list
Hmmm…we’re in NYS so the SUNYs were a natural to look at also, but I second @veehee 's advice. If you can afford to also apply to private institutions they often have MUCH more aid to give, thus making them competitive with an out-of-state state school tuition.
My DD really liked MassArts but we did not qualify for in-state or New England discounted tuition, and even with a small merit aid package, they actually would have cost us more than RISD with the merit package we got from them.