Hi everyone, I’m sorry if this is posted in the wrong place but I wasn’t sure where to put it.
So, I’m planning to study art in college and have narrowed down my search between two colleges: Bard College and SDSU. Bard is offering me more generous financial aid, it would cost me about $14000 a year to attend before loans, while SDSU would cost me $39000 + travel expenses because I’m an OOS. My choice should be a obvious, right? My dilemma is that I feel like I would have better career opportunities in the San Diego area, because Bard is an hour and half outside of NYC.
But why didn’t I apply to SVA, Parsons, Pratt, RISD, etc? Because I’m interested in subjects outside of art as well and given what I’ve heard about their financial aid packages I doubt they would be much cheaper than the schools I’ve applied to.
I’m probably going to go with Bard in the end but, I was wondering what you guys would do? Would you go to the school in the middle of no where which would require you to take out the minimal amount of loans or the pricey school in a better area?
would have applied to VCUARTS. Richmond is great , the art school is one of the best in the nation and while aid can
be light, tuition starts lower than schools you mentioned.
@OctoberSunshine You really want to consider your overall costs. Will you be taking out loans to pay for both schools? 39K a year is a lot if you will be taking out loans. 14K is much more reasonable. And travel costs can add up, so if Bard is closer to your hometown, that should be included in your costs. Also, what are you planning on majoring in at each school? And finally, how much do you estimate you might be earning after graduation? Paying off a huge loan could take quite a long time.
If you’re concerned about getting a job and Bard being too far away from NYC, I would call the school and find out how students get internships and jobs after graduation. I’m sure they have a means of either bringing businesses to campus or getting students to the city for job fairs, etc.
Actually, the private art schools (Pratt, University of the Arts, Ringling, MICA) gave my D great merit aid which actually lowered the cost down considerably. So even though their “sticker price” seems outrageous, they were quite in-line with most of the other schools. And just so you know, VCUARTS was the most expensive of all the schools my D applied to…high OOS cost, zero scholarship money, $2000 grant aid. So don’t feel like you missed out on some great deal.
as somebody near SDSU, im like “why the heck is this person considering going to SDSU for ART?” we have the absolute worst art scene here, honestly you’re much better off being an hour and a half from new york city than being in san diego.
new york is the capitol of art, being an hour and a half from NYC is a lot shorter than the drive it would take from san diego to LA. and even then, NYC >>> LA
san diego is nothing in art, proximity to it means nothing.
and i know nothing about bard college but the fact that it’s named “bard” as in william shakespeare the bard sounds a LOT more legit to me than freaking SDSU where mostly just local high schoolers all end up at.
seriously, an hour and a half drive is like SD to irvine/disneyland, that’s nothing. you’ll be fine being an hour and a half away from NYC. much easier to pay for an internship that is an hour and a half there than having to pay for housing 3000 miles away if you’re in SD and want to get a real internship somewhere like in NYC.
also not being in debt for a mediocre school is pretty great (seriously, don’t get into debt to attend SDSU… it’s … not worth it at all. even as a local i have no respect/prestige or anything for it. you are honest to god better off going to community college your first two years before attending SDSU, the labs are less crowded, classes are smaller, you get great professors who probably already teach or taught at SDSU/UCSD anyways. seriously not worth getting in debt over as a OOS.)
also thought i should note: as someone who IS involved a lot in performing arts, none of my performing arts friends attended SDSU except for those in instrumental music (and those were only the average/mediocre ones that didn’t get into berklee or another program or that wanted to stay local. others went to schools in LA/OOS). visual arts, theater, ect. they all went somewhere else even though they easily got accepted at SDSU.
tl;dr, you’re not missing out on anything if you don’t go to SDSU. you’ll save so much more money and have more legit opportunities at bard.
What kind of art are you considering? Bard seems well regarded as a sort of academic/artsy think tank. They have some great alumni (& I’d assume networks) in various disciplines, especially writing. For example, Neil Gaiman has been an adjunct there for a few years. I don’t live terribly close to the college, but make the drive every couple of months to see speakers and performances (held in their Frank Gehry concert hall) so they’re definitely pulling in people willing to take the train from NYC.
@OctoberSunshine One of D’s professors at NYU got his MFA at Bard. They have an excellent low-residency graduate program from what I hear, with a connection to artists in NYC. He studied sculpture.
That is not to say that the MFA program has anything to do with the quality of their undergrad art program. You would have to research that. But there is definitely a NYC connection.
The assumption that you’re making in your thread title is wrong. Bard will offer plenty of career opportunities with NYC so close. Studying art, with SDSU $100,000+ more expensive. No brainer. You’d have much more of a dilemma if your costs were reversed.
