I know that at some art schools the combination of a good portfolio and good grades/test scores can get very decent merit awards because art schools often lack students with strong academic records. While these schools are still expensive, it can help to decrease the cost considerably.
WWU has a very strong art program, I would absolutely check it out. Well regarded. As does Lewis and Clark. Run the net price there, the merit can be decent, my S17 has a good friend in their art program who received nice merit though maybe not quite as much as you are looking for.
Virginia Commonwealth University, a VA public in Richmond boasts of having the #1 Arts program of public Unis. We were very impressed on our visits. My youngest D was accepted into their Fashion Merchandizing program ( no portfolio requirement) this year. They also have a highly ranked fashion design program, as well as excellent fine arts programs (portfolios required). They have a nice honors program with many Art students who are in it.
They do offer merit to OOS students. They offered my D , OOS, $14.5k per year merit, with 1450SAT, CR +M, 32ACT, 3.8 U/W GPA, only 3 APs, taken senior year, leaving cost of approx $27k for year 1. I think your D could get some decent merit if she can boost her math score a bit. She is taking a very challenging curriculum and doing well.
Richmond is a very artsy medium sized city with lots to do, great food, nice parks. Also, especially if she can get that math score up a bit, she could look at the University of Richmond, a small private which offers 45 full tuition/full ride scholarships to freshman each year (has approx 3200 undergrads). A certain number of those big scholarships are for Arts/ theater/music, winners must major or minor in an arts area. It is common for UR students to double major or have minors. UR is a beautiful school, in the suburbs 10 mins from downtown Richmond.
Has she looked at University of the Arts in Philadelphia? My D is a musical theatre major (and absolutely loves it), but they offer a myriad of arts degrees, obviously. The tuition, r&b is high; however, D received merit and talent scholarships and grants that brought the cost down to just part r&b, and I know others who have also received very generous aid. (In fact, this year, D is also going to work as a peer tutor, which completely covers her r&b, so, with her scholarships, we’ll pay nothing.) The financial aid office is enthusiastic, supportive, and generous, and the quality of the programs is high. People from all over the States and the world attend.
We have 3 others following D, so cost was a factor to us, as well. We were ecstatic when D got into UArts and then received their financial aid information. Fortunately, D is level-headed and frugal, so she was able to audition and apply to UArts and a few others with high list costs with a realistic expectation that she may not be able to attend even if she were fortunate enough to be one of the few accepted.
Good advice here.
I TOTALLY get the “too expensive” and “starving artist” scenarios. To be a “real job” artist you need skills beyond your art. You need a self-promotion gene, a terrific work ethic, and real talent. And just want art 24/7. Those with less than stellar talent can make it with good work ethic and self-promotion.
As a parent, you need to educate yourself as to how art is integrated into many careers that you may not have realized before you feel comfortable letting your child follow this path.
There is money out there for the truly talented. Don’t discount merit money until you’ve talked to some schools. Nobody can get their hopes up. It’s very competitive. But at least try it. It’ll give you and D a better picture of competition at the very least.
Go to National Portfolio Days and get feedback. If she has a particular interest in her art then focus on the schools which have that as their strength with programs she would be interested in. For example, my D wanted computer animation which focused on quick action sketch (she went to Ringling). Feedback is key. Whether she pursues an art degree or not the feedback will be invaluable. You can also observe the art skills of other kids her age. Listen to other kid’s critiques if possible.
My own lessons–No anime in portfolio. Art needs to be from life and not copies of pictures. Figure drawing.
Your D has some nice stuff from the little that you show. You may be surprised however what some schools actually are looking for. Sometimes totally different things. Sometimes it’ll be something not quite finished or a bit rough that shows a different skill that “mom” missed. Bring a sketch book.
More “lessons”–the artist kids I know live and breathe art 24/7. Literally. They’ve done it since they were very little and just never stopped. They would never be happy working in anything else. They know it. That’s how I saw it with my own D. I looked back at her life and realized she had ALWAYS focused on art. It was in her genes.
That’s where the ART school comes in–the top art schools curb all extraneous education and focus on ART. It is not an “all around” experience. I’ve known adults who headed back to art school after working in traditional careers.
@californiaaa The OP’s daughter is a talented artist. Her SAT scores are not what is going to determine whether or not she’s successful in an art program. I don’t know where you got the idea that colleges don’t value APs. They do. You just don’t need to take every single AP your high school offers. In any event can’t imagine why the OP’s daughter would be targeting Ivies, apart from the RISD/Brown program which is likely to be unaffordable.
I was an art major in a small department at a college not known at all for producing artists. I loved my major, I loved the department. I went on into architecture as did some of my classmates. Most are still doing creative things of one sort or another - graphic design, fabric production, film work among the names I can remember.
Thank you all so much for all your inputs. They have been a real gift as I/we start out on this journey.
I too see that my DD has the artist gene as she is always doing art. I don’t think she’ll be happy doing anything else so I’ll support her as much as I can. First off, we will attend NPD in Seattle this coming Jan. Thanks to those the brought this up. We were not able to make last years, but will make it a priority this time around. She/I need to hear professional feedback on where she stand in relation to her peers.
Ideally, she’d prefer a small/medium sized campus in a climate that has four seasons. Not sure how hard and fast this is, but it may rule out some of the suggested schools (i.e. Ringling CalArts). I wasn’t aware of UArts or UR, but will research them and others that have been mentioned.
Any suggestion on how many applications we should plan for. I’d like to limit the applications to 6 schools. Is that enough?
Again, thanks for the encouragement. What a great community.
Love your daughters work! Best of luck to her finding an affordable college she loves and with her career.
What about Macalester? Lewis and Clark? College of Charleston? Ncf? Agnes Scott? Different types of colleges, to get her thinking about preferences. All hospitable to art students but not known for art so her application would likely stand out.they’re all in cities/towns who can be quite invigorating for young artists, except ncf I think.
OP said they have a high EFC, but are only willing to spend 20K per year. This puts a lot of private schools out of reach. (Particularly art-specialty schools, because they are often stingy with financial aid, but even non-merit-aid LACs will be a stretch if they do not want to do loans.)
Of the colleges @MYOS1634 listed above, my artist DD applied to Macalester. Minneapolis is indeed a fabulous town for artists. Our financial aid package did come in less than our EFC because they have a more generous definition of need, but it was within 2K of the school Net Price Calculator. In the end, she chose a different school where the finances were better. Artists don’t make much right out of school, so it is wise to be cautious about debt.
Another great thing about Macalester is that they have a cooperative arrangement with Minneapolis College of Art and Design where Macalester students can take a course there each semester. It’s a respected school, and like most standalone art schools, offers things like illustration and design that LAC and university art departments - traditionally painting/sculpture/photography - do not.
Commenting on the “hates the process” in the thread title: My eldest was happy to pick out schools for her self, but my youngest was quite happy for me to help her “Mom, you like to research on the internet, you can help”
But I took her on visits early on Junior year to get a feel of big and small colleges…once she had an idea of what she wanted I used Naviance/Supermatch to come up with ideas. You have more specific art related concerns so listen to others on that. But I did learn from the eldest and had my DD write her essay over the summer which helped alot.
So it’s okay to help them out if they want you to.
I’ve been overly involved in the process; starting from weekly reviews of powerschool to running NPCs and even filling out FAFSA in junior year to get an accurate EFC for planning purposes. After visiting 3 schools this week, I’m seeing that my quasi-micromanagement (she might not look at it this way) of her HS career is about to pay dividends. Seems she has guaranteed acceptance at state and very strong qualifications for full tuition Honors scholarship. After the tour she realized that state was a good option for Arts/LA and I could almost feel the stress leaving her body. Not that a small/med LAC is off the table, but knowing that state is a suitable alternative really took much of her stress away.
I’ve also lightened up on my criticism of a Fine Arts degree and threw my support behind whatever she believes is best for her. I think the stress of deciding on a career-focused degree vs her passion was a bit too much for her to handle at this point in the process. I’ve come to realize that each milestone in the process needs to happen at its own time. To rush it, is just to elevate her stress unnecessarily.
We saw two privates and a public this week and I think we have turned the corner on her level of engagement. She now seems excited at the thought of applying to colleges and getting scholarships to make them affordable. I’m not sure, but I may have seen a twinkle in her eye. What parent doesn’t love that?
Have you looked at UBC or Emily Carr in Vancouver?
UBC offers both BA and BFA programs in visual arts and Emily Carr has a range of art, design and media degrees.
The big plus is the relatively low costs which, although your student would be an International, allows you to take advantage of the favorable exchange rate or US vs. CAN dollars.
I don’t think that qualifies as over-involvement. It is something that more parents OUGHT to do!