I have an 18 year old daughter who is graduating this month. She is really artistic and has her heart set on attending this School for Advertising Art. Its a two year program and it costs $58,000!!! Thats tuition and supplies.
I could see this coming a mile away but they had a meeting last week to discuss financial aid. In the end, my daughter is going to need 50K in private student loans. Talking to my ex she said they could do 25k implying that I should cosign for the other 25k. I told her I’m not doing that. Like I said, I’ve seen this coming a mile away and have thought about this, consulted with alot people, and done a lot of reading online. What I’ve deduced is this is a VERY, VERY bad idea to…
1)Cosign for a private loan, let alone a loan for that much money.
2)And just as important if not more important, to so willingly let my daughter be saddled with that kind of debt.
She would be 21 years old with an associates degree in art and 50k in college debt. Not even including interest. I dont know if she/they truly understand how much debt this is. I told her my thoughts on this and stated I won’t be cosigning any loans. My ex wife goes on stating that this is what she wants to do and if she doesn’t go to this college she just doesn’t have anything else to do with her life, which I find ridiculous. I took it to be a gutil trip tactic.
So anyway, everybody I’ve talked to(friends and family) think I am making the right decision. It does have me bummed out though. I take no joy in this. But my heart and common sense tell me it’s the right thing to do. Just thought I’d post and maybe get a few opinions from others on here. Thanks
Say no to the debt.
There have to be alternatives to this…(for profit?) school.
The student can’t take out those loans. You need to stand firm that you won’t consign or take out loans for her in this huge amount. If your former spouse wants to cosign that amount of loans, that is her business…but it’s not so smart.
Did this student apply to any other schools?
What are your obligations in terms of college support (anything in the divorce decree?). I would honor that commitment regardless of the school.
I totally support degrees in the arts…but not if they are going to put the whole family in financial jeopardy.
You are doing the right thing. This institution is unaffordable. Period.
If your daughter wants to study art, she needs to identify a place that her family can afford. At least one of the public universities in her home state offers a major in art. If your family can’t afford that university, then she should look at the community colleges that she can commute to.
It really is that simple.
What is unfortunate is that the other adults around her were willing to tell her all of this last year.
Yeah, I have no idea what my ex is thinking at this point. I hope for her sake and my daughters sake they dont do something crazy and cosign for 50k.
I totally agree with you. That is an unreasonable amount of debt to take on, especially in that she won’t even end up with a bachelors degree. We know several kids who have attended these 2 year “specialty” type programs, and in each case they found that prospective employers wanted a Bachelor’s. Two of the kids went back to school to get BA’s and one is working in retail.
Your daughter could work for a year or two, banking everything (assume she lives with your ex-wife cost free). You could agree to match her earnings up to $15k. I think she’ll learn how hard it is to make $15k. Her mother could then sign the loan for $20k if she still wants to. I don’t think any of that will happen, but at least you’ve offered to contribute if DD is willing to work for it.
Can you help her find another school which is less expensive? A state school or community college? If she sees there are other options, she might take one.
When D was 4 and wanted a pony, did you & your ex-wife say yes to that?
Lots of colleges have art programs that won’t set you back 50k in loans for only an Associates Degree!!! Was D admitted to any other schools this admissions round?
My rule of thumb is student debt should not exceed ~50% of anticipated starting income. Can D credibly expect a 100k starting salary as a commercial artist?
Nothing like narrowing your choices right off the bat.
My daughter wanted to attend art school. She applied to an excellent but extremely competitive program in the local community college, but wasn’t accepted. I encouraged her to consider schools with strong art depts, but where she could change majors, and still retain credit for her previous courses. She took a gap year & majored in biology. ( her choice)
Lots of choices with graphic design.
http://www.educationnews.org/career-index/graphic-design-schools-in-ohio/
It sounds like your daughter and her mom have been taken in by the sales pitch of this two-year institution. Getting a degree in Art is fine, but there is really no one place that a student must go, to get that degree; there are many possible options. As with any other degree, several schools should be considered, and the final decision made based on FIT and AFFORDABILITY. This particular school lacks affordability, so it should have been crossed off the list long ago. Sigh…I really feel for you, and I hope there are other schools on the list that have both fit and affordability going for them. If not, this kiddo is in for a world of hurt, especially with a degree in Art, which is notoriously hard to transition into a high-paying career. I say stick to your guns, you are clearly in the right.
I did tell her I would keep sending her the money I was sendiing her mom in child support as long as she’s in school. I’m not sure what they are thinking at this point. We just had this discussion on Saturday so it hasn’t been very long. They might be thinking they can still get me to come around somehow, but my mind is made up on this. I’m going to watch her graduate high school at the end of the month and she’s supposed to come back and visit with me for a week. But I don’t even know how all thats going to turn out. I would hate for things to be awkward.
Did she NOT apply to any four year colleges?
AFAIK, this is the only college that has been on her radar. Like I mentioned previously, the ex made it out to be like its this or my daughter’s life is just ruined.
Holy Mother of Moloch, do not even contemplate this. It’s a staggering amount of money for what amounts to a community college degree. If you really want to get their attention, have them read [Illness or injury can cause ruinous consequences for those with student loan debt](http://college.usatoday.com/2011/06/21/illness-or-injury-can-cause-ruinous-consequences-for-those-with-student-loan-debt/).
A case can be made that her life will indeed be ruined if she does go ahead with this. Have your D do the math:
Let’s say starting salary for commercial artist is 35k. Minus taxes, her take-home pay will be ~2000 per month. A 50k loan @5% interest and a 10 year term, means $530 per month payments. For TEN LONG YEARS!! Her net after monthly loan payments will be only $1500. How is she going to enjoy living like the proverbial “starving artist”?
D can take a gap year. Lots of kids take a gap year(s). If she gets a job, she’ll see how hard it is to make money, and it’ll put in perspective the difficulty of repaying a 50k loan.
Have you been exploring other colleges that may offer this career path in advertising, art and design or some combination of that? Instead of just a no, it is smarter to show the kind of things that are available and what is affordable and even come up with a dollar amount per year that would be reasonable to get a BA
It looks like that school covers graphic design for the majority. It is a niche school. It may be good but it is privately held so I don’t see a lot of info, it is just too expensive if you have to borrow it and don’t just have that kind of money sitting in the bank for college.
2-year program total $58,529 (tuition, supplies, fees)
On-campus room & board: not offered
So if she wasn’t in commuting distance there is living expenses as well.
It was on a list of graphic design colleges. Here is the rest of the list. A lot are very pricy art colleges, but there may be some more reasonable options here. And these are tippy top, looking at them, so there should be more decent schools that are normal but at least teach some skills. In the end it is about the talent.
http://gdusa.com/issue_2015/march/schools/index.php?s=17
This is a terrible idea!
Sounds like your ex isn’t paying for anything…just borrowing. If she can’t afford to pay anything, then why does she think that a young new art grad could pay that debt.
Your D can start at a CC like MOST art students do. Many CC’s have very good art programs.
Just say no. Believe me, your DD will NOT be able to afford to make the payments on $50k of debt (which will be larger by the time she graduates.
new art grads usually CANNOT even support THEMSELVES, much less may loan payments!!!
FYI, some data on the return on investment for different majors:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/03/daily-chart-2
you can click on the chart’s tabs and see the breakout by major
Thanks for all the replies and reinforcing what I am feeling. It’s pretty crazy. The words I keep hearing from friends and family I’ve talked to are RECKLESS…IRRESPONSIBLE…UNREALISTIC…and HELL NO. lol
I’m supposed to spend a week with my daughter at the end of May. I’ll do some talking with her and discuss all of this with her. Thanks so much!
What state is she a resident of?