<p>I think its ridiculous how expensive art schools are. For the cost almost equal to an education at Harvard you can go to school at Parsons, Pratt, and other schools with similar costs. It doesn't make sense that these school are so expensive when they train you for jobs that are relatively low in demand, and generally don't pay very well. The tuition you pay for a school should not exceed the salary you earn upon graduation, assuming you get a job at all.</p>
<p>Assuming that spending a lot of money for tuition will get you a better job is a wrong assumption also. The art and design field is the only field in which a potential hiring company can look at your portfolio and see right away how good you are, unlike other fields in which employers can only assume based on where you went to school. In other words, if you graduate from Yale with a degree, employers will look at that alone to decide whether or not they hire you. If you go to Pratt, employers will be impressed, but that will only get your foot in the door. Plenty of people graduate from Pratt that still suck, and employers know that and can see right away from looking at your portfolio. Someone who went to a less notable school who has a great portfolio will be hired over someone who went to Pratt and has an average portfolio.</p>
<p>Anyway, just venting. Remember that an art school is only as good as you make it. Spending more money isn't going to make things easier, its just going to make them harder to deal with in the future.</p>
<p>MrKirk notes," Art schools are too expensive! "</p>
<p>Response: How expensive is too expensive? Most of these teachers are established professionals in their field that can easily make more than you are paying in tuition! You also have access to the latest computers and software. You also have access to hundreds of clubs, athletic facilities in some schools, job placement etc. This brings us to my initial question: how expensive is too expensive?</p>
<p>Moreover, based on supply and demand for some schools, I would suggrest that the tuition is too low! Many of the better known art schools and colleges with art programs are receiving a record number of applicants. They probably could increase their tuition and still fill their quota. Just check out how many applications schools like RISD, CMU design school, Pratt, MICA and others get.</p>
<p>i think a lot of the reason why these schools have received many more applications than before is because of shows like project runway and by what people glamourize of design majors.</p>
<p>"You also have access to the latest computers and software. You also have access to hundreds of clubs, athletic facilities in some schools, job placement etc. This brings us to my initial question: how expensive is too expensive?"
I think you honestly get this more at large research universities. </p>
<p>I honestly think art schools are not worth the extra cost. If you have to take out more money than you can pay in the long run, you shouldn't be attending art school.</p>
<p>you can easily hit up major research universities that have strong programs such as CMU, USC, and other liberal art schools , who can offer merit and need based aid.</p>
<p>//If art schools had the same endowments at the Ivies and the top LACs they might be better able to subsidize costs//</p>
<p>m&sdad, which brings us back to the point that MrKirk was stating. IMHO, they are not endowed well because the majority of the graduates probably cannot afford to contribute to their alma mater after graduation. I assume it would be viewed as information that is too personal to disclose or be impossible to acquire, but wouldn't it be interesting to see an actual breakdown of the various art schools graduates' (or LAC's BFA graduates') actual first jobs and starting salaries to see how they compare? </p>
<p>I know I am probably in the minority here who feels this way (and I may be totally wrong), but don't prospective employers look at more than just a student's portfolio? Don't other professional attributes come into the picture? Can he or she write? Are they articulate? Are they well-read and able to discuss with others ideas or worldly topics that are not only art-motivated? As a parent who won't be able to afford a stand alone art school for her child, I am almost glad we can't. I just can't get past the idea of a person moving onto "university" to improve and nurture just one area of his or her life. </p>
<p>Hopefully in a couple of years, my kid will find a place that teaches him all he needs to know; he will become a successful artist of some sort, he can contribute to his alma mater and.... have enough left over to buy me a huge beach house ! :)</p>
<p>There are some universities and liberal arts colleges with great art programs. I know that here in Pennsylvania, Penn State has an excellent graphic design program. Kutztown University is a great school for art also, and has one of the best job placement programs out of all of PA art schools.</p>
<p>I'm going to Tyler School of Art, which is Temple University's prestigious art school. It is just as reputable as, and harder to get into than Pratt and it costs less than half the price. Tuition is, for PA residents, 11,000. Pratt costs 26,000 in tuition. It has all the amenities that Pratt does, including a large campus, clubs, athletics, etc.</p>
<p>How expensive is too expensive? If you are paying 20% or more of your income in student loans per year after graduation, that is too expensive. If your family is paying tuition for you, they probably don't know what its like to work in the design field, and will be asking what it is they paid so much for after its all over.</p>
<p>I do agree, though, that Pratt does offer a lot in scholarship and grants, around 8,000 on average I believe. Probably because they too realize how ridiculous 41K a year is.</p>
<p>MrKirk, Interesting that you just mentioned Kutztown. My husband brought up as a school we should visit with my HS junior daughter but I wasn't sure about it. We're in the process of visits and are trying to have a good balance of schools to look at that include art schools as well as universities with good art programs. Need to have a varied selection since GPA is not great and don't have SAT scores yet. Since you're from PA, do you know anything about Arcadia? We are also looking at George Mason in VA, Towson, which we've gotten some good info on in these forums, DE, and already visited Drexel. Any input on these schools would be great. Thanks.</p>
<p>[m&sdad]
"To be honest, the top art schools, with the exception of MICA, are more generous with merit scholarships that the Ivies are."</p>
<p>~~~~~~~~
does MICA have a reputation as the stingiest of the top art schools? That comes as a surprise to me, considering the recent thread about the lack of merit scholarships at RISD and CMU........... and the fact that of the 6 schools that offered my son scholarships and or financial aid, MICA was the most generous.</p>
<p>I have a number of friends who are graduating from Kutztown this year, and I've been there (and had fun there :-)) on many occasions.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if I would rank it as high as some of the schools in Philly or Penn State but it is still up there. I was surprised at how well my friends were doing in their internships, and job placements that they had gotten. The overall talent and work of the students is nice too, some great talent there.</p>
<p>As for GPA art schools are usually pretty relaxed about them if the portfolio is good. I had a terrible GPA out of high school, but I found that I could take a semester or two at a local community college, and really work hard to get a good GPA there, and when I transfered to Tyler they didn't even look at my HS transcript.</p>
<p>Don't really know much about Arcadia, sorry.</p>
<p>I mean RISD being stingy with aid. Sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>My D was offered $20K in merit per year from MICA for four years. She will be attending MICA in the fall. She received roughly the same merit offer from CMU as she did from MICA. </p>
<p>We will be paying less out of pocket than we would in state at Penn State.</p>
<p>MrKirk, Thanks for the info on Kutztown. I'm on their website now and am impressed with what I see. We'll plan on visiting soon. Is the area pretty rural with not much to do? If so, is the campus active socially on weekends and do most students stay on campus? How far from things to do? You mentioned your friends had good internships. Does the art school offer a good intern program?</p>
<p>Kutztown is in the middle of Berks County, which is mostly rural. The town of Reading is near, but I wouldn't call it a fun or interesting place to go to. The actual town of Kutztown is pretty charming, its small but not without some places to go and things to do. Its a typical small town college, where students pretty much stick to the town, campus, and each other for socializing and fun. Although these small town colleges are also notorious for being big party schools, which KU certainly is.</p>
<p>One friend of mine has had a summer internship through KU with a graphic design firm that has lasted her about two summers now, and will hire her (unless she chooses elsewhere) after she graduates. Other friends have similar internships as well. Kutztown has a great placement/intern program from what I've seen and heard, one of the better ones compared to other art schools.</p>
<p>when i applied to pratt, they gave me like 15K scholarship that would be renewed every year, at parsons it was like 10K, at my school now it's like 10K(but being a cali resident i also get grants from the state, whcih allowed me to have another 8,500K per year)</p>
<p>Although art schools tend to have a lower endowment, not all art schools are stingy. In fact, the only art school that gives very little merit aid is RISD.</p>
<p>//I know I am probably in the minority here who feels this way (and I may be totally wrong), but don't prospective employers look at more than just a student's portfolio? Don't other professional attributes come into the picture? Can he or she write? Are they articulate? Are they well-read and able to discuss with others ideas or worldly topics that are not only art-motivated? As a parent who won't be able to afford a stand alone art school for her child, I am almost glad we can't. I just can't get past the idea of a person moving onto "university" to improve and nurture just one area of his or her life.//</p>
<p>I look at the portfolio first; consider the interview second; and then the experience. I think all kids should go to a local community college or a state LAC first, to get their feet wet before spending the big bucks on a more specialized education. The credits can always transfer, and why would you want to pay big money for an English class at an art college when you can take the equivalent or better for a fraction of the cost.</p>
<p>ACK!! Taxguy, you almost gave me a heart attack by suggesting art schools raise their tuition!!!</p>
<p>As an art student with very little money (according to the FAFSA, my EFC is 3 grand), I am horrified with the high price of art and film schools. In other countries, such as Germany, they don't pay NEARLY as much for ANY advanced schooling, which in my humble opinion is the way it should be. </p>
<p>And you're right, the process for hiring people in artistic fields is COMPLETELY the opposite from other fields of study. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say employers for any company look solely at a prospective employee's school and GPA, those things are important. In the artistic world, however, it's what you've done and are capable of doing that's important. I have a GPA of 3.9, but that won't help me one iota in getting a job, and I know that. It's the strength of my portfolio that will decide my future. So when choosing schools, it's the reputation of the program's strengths and its connections that are most important. How good are the students coming out of there? How professional-looking are their portfolios/reels? Are the students being taught how to use their art in order to survive financially? How likely are they to get a job in their chosen field based on their portfolio? THAT's what's important.</p>
<p>As for scholarships/grants, there are some for art students, but unfortunately not a whole lot. It is also important to remember how expensive and risky being an artist is. You need a heck of a lot more supplies in art school than you do in most other fields. In most classes, you buy a textbook, maybe a few, most of which a student is likely to return for a percentage of his or her money back. In art, it's a neverending cycle of purchasing supplies, equipment, books, and software. Luckily, art schools supply some of this (i.e. easels, computers, software), which is partially why tuition is so high. Sure, technically you should be able to sell the pieces you've made, but this isn't exactly guarenteed. Being an artist is risky, because (unlike teaching, etc.) there's never a guarentee that your services will be needed.</p>