BFA in Animation/Illustration for talented and ambitious student with IEP/ADHD and in the spectrum..

DePaul has one of the top rankings for Animation majors in the country.

https://www.cdm.depaul.edu/academics/Pages/BFAinAnimation.aspx
DePaul is around $40K/yr for tuition alone for a full-time student.

LOL, thatā€™s where I WENT. There were many things that just didnā€™t work for me thereā€¦and I think those same things would definitely get in the way for our daughter. The city is very distracting. And, I missed out on that good old college campusā€¦something I was hoping for with her. We may look at Carbondale where her dad went especially since they have an alumni discount and also an out of state tuition breakā€¦also I noticed your pic has Syracuseā€¦my brother went thereā€¦also a little bit of the city but better because itā€™s a real campus with games etc. but huge for her. Which she doesnā€™t think is badā€¦but I have a feeing it would get in the way. She has a hard time getting ready for gym and afterā€¦I imagine her trying to get it all together in the cityā€¦a smaller city wouldnā€™t be bad like Champlain was nice in Burlington but had the wrong majorā€¦

PS I know Carbondale is hugeā€¦but since she might be able to go there tuition free, we must look at it.

Well not free, but prepaid.

Not a BFA- but what about Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL- $671 a credit, they say that is inclusive of all costs. There is a college mathematics course requirement, but no science. Almost completely art focused.

Thanks, since my hubby is from there we know about Depaulā€¦thatā€™s such a great neighborhood too.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for info on Full Sail is what I meant to write

DePaul has a solid reputation for animation and game development people out here on the West Coast. Iā€™m also a CS grad from DePaul from 35 years ago and amazingly I still know some of the professors there quite well. The Dean for the College of Computing was my AI teacher way back in the early 80ā€™s. The CoC does a good job at keeping up with the latest trends and technology.

Be careful about Full Sail. MANY disappointed after paying the tuition.

Thank you, I heard something else about it somewhereā€¦and how thereā€™s no financial aid as itā€™s open admissionā€¦

Sonā€™s long-time girlfriend received her BFA from UNLV. They were supportive and helped her with her portfolio for her masterā€™s. She applied and ended up choosing USCā€™s film school for her masterā€™s specializing in animation. She received a scholarship/fellowship to help defer USC tuition costs. She is a recent graduate and is employed non-stop. Her projects are currently being broadcast now.

She did not start at a high-cost undergrad school but worked hard on her craft and is enjoying her success.

Again UNLV not Tisch or Cal Arts or RSID. UNLV OOS tuition is $20K for the year and she did receive some $$.

Hope this helps.

Kat

Iā€™m confusedā€¦and I admit to not understanding prepaid plans. You have a prepaid plan in Illinoisā€¦but wouldnā€™t that just cover the IN state costs to attend the public universities in Illinois? Or do you get some special deal and not have to pay the OOS cost (since you are not an Illinois resident)?

If you go out of state, you get the average tuition of an IL state school. We moved to Connecticut 10 years ago and we can apply that money to any school. If we apply it to an in state school (for us)ā€¦it goes further.

PS Itā€™s the average amount of an IL state public school IF you were in state. And you can take that money (itā€™s around $600 a credit hour) and apply it to any school. Make sense?

@Sparkle8

So checking for clarityā€¦you would get enough to pay the instate cost at an Illinois public?

Can you cover the differential between the OOS and instate costs? Illinois OOS tuition is costly.

Thank you, that helps a lot. She really liked Northern Vermont University in Lyndon. Not lots of frills, not many seem to know it but we have a feeling she would do fantastic there, finish her degree (BFA in Animation and Illustration), get great recommendations and then move on to a Masters. To me, thriving and finishing is much more important than the name or rank of the school. And even if the school doesnā€™t have a high rate of graduation, weā€™ll know in our guts if she can do it or not. Sheā€™s still a junior so we are still looking, applying and keeping all options open at this point.

Yes, we would get exactly what the average IL public state school costs for an IN STATE person BUT, we are out of state. So we would have to pay more because we are out of state. However, Carbondale happens to give in state tuition to out of state students. So just for Carbondale our prepaid tuition would cover it. Make sense?

Thank you for the explanation!

Sure, itā€™s extremely confusing. And this is very funny because when we started it 17 years ago we had no intention of leaving the state. And then we moved 10 years ago. So weā€™ve had time to figure out exactly what it means. Both of us had a hard time paying for college and it was important to us to set something aside for our kidsā€¦Iā€™m glad we did. Itā€™s not a ton but itā€™s a start.