Here I am a year later again: Can I finish my art degree despite my $100k debt?

Parent Cafe
1

I posted this thread a year ago:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1802843-going-back-to-art-school-after-118k-in-student-loan-debt-is-it-possible-to-pay-back-loans-p1.html

I didn’t add that a major roadblock was abuse at home because I’ve been attacked on reddit for “blaming them,” when really it’s just another thing in my mental health I’ve dealt with. Luckily as of February I am now living with my boyfriend of a year and a half and am healing from it with minimal contact from them.

But my mom is helping with my loans, and so is my aunt.

My migraines have worsened over the past year since I was diagnosed and I have had them every day, am now diagnosed with three headache disorders, have been hospitalized for them, and am currently on the road to what looks like improvement, I hope, with my 7th (?) preventative medication, B vitamins and magnesium, as well as occipital nerve blocks. However, I still am getting them every day, just not all day or a few days, or as severe, and I will be getting botox soon. I’m soon to be switching to a more stable migraine friendly job in my hospital I work at, that I plan to continue to work at until I have a career.

I am still struggling with depression and anxiety, but the migraines are more prevalent right now. It would soar back up if I attempted nursing school again, I can tell you that. But my greatest concerns revolve around my health, and mostly money, my debt, and my career. I want this resolved such that I can stop my frequent identity crises over giving up my long time dreams and just become an artist full time. Not living and breathing art is the bane of my existence. Sure, there’s “free time,” when not at a job making a high salary, but it’s not the same as living the lifestyle of an artist and being surrounded by creative people, doing art constantly, working your butt off to promote your art. Plus, I’m so exhausted when I come home from work that I only have energy on my days off, with my health currently. I’ve gotten to the point where I am so unhappy thinking about returning to nursing school or pursuing it as a career. And the stress of school was literally driving me towards suicide when I last tried to the extent that I would be terrified to even attempt, not to mention that with my job it would be even more stressful to support myself while doing so. I honestly think the cure to what will improve my condition will be reconciling in my head my largest regrets over having to leave art school and not living as an artist by pursuing it as a career.

I am back asking the same question, perhaps foolishly, but I cannot reconcile this in my head in any other way. I want to finish the last two years of my BFA at MassArt. This would require more debt. But I am so driven. My art teacher in high school called me one of his top 3 students in his forty year career and one of his other students has given a TED talk and is very successful, so I don’t take that lightly. I’ve been working on art and it’s made me happier than I’ve been in so long. But it’s not enough for me. I know enough about nursing by now to know that not only will it not be good for whatever happens with my migraines in the future, but that it is the type of stress than I will likely never be able to handle.

I want to make a career out of art and pay off my loans more than anything and not be impoverished. But I also don’t want to be unhappy at a job I hate living my literal every day like I do now with regrets that I am not following my dreams for the rest of my life in hopes for a “someday” that may never come and will just leave me in my current state, depressed and continuously freaking out I’m living an empty life. I am turning 27 soon and I do not want to make the wrong choice about school or something I won’t finish, again, however, if not art. I HAVE considered other things: becoming a counselor or doing a 13 week “bootcamp” program to become a computer engineer, both of which I might enjoy but would take more time and more importantly money. But I still don’t think I will be happy doing art in my free time and not being an artist full time. I really don’t.

Guidance please? Is there ANY hope?

2

Do not take out more debt. Period. I think you need a therapist – posting here isn’t going to be enough to sort all the issues you have. And… you don’t actually need a BFA to be an artist. I’d say you need to work to support yourself and make your loan payments. Do art in evenings and weekends for now – if you can get a start with making money at it, then consider cutting back on other work and doing more with it.

3

Why not bump up the old thread with updated info? Didn’t people last year suggest not taking out more debt? The answer will likely not change.

4

A BFA is not useful for an art career if it costs $200k in debt. You can be an artist without it.

The thing you seem unable to reconcile is that you need an income to survive, and that means a job, BC frankly, most BFAs don’t make a “living” at their art. They have related field jobs that pay the bills.

Tough love here: time to grow up and face it. You are an adult, and you need a job to pay your bills. There is no point in going back for the BFA bc after that, your dilemma will not change. The BFA won’t allow you to suddenly live and breathe art. You will still need a job.

We would all like to follow our passions all day every day. It’s just not possible for most of us. Until you face and accept that, you probably will not be satisfied with life. It’s not selling out. It’s supporting yourself. And that is something to be proud of, not avoided at all costs.

It sounds like things are getting better and you should stick with your life as it is. Debt will just double your stress…

5

Artists sell their art. They don’t need BFAs to do that. There is no requirement to have a degree.

6

Try selling art on Etsy first or local art shows to see if there is an interest. If it’s new, fresh and exciting you’ll know by people buying and spreading your art by word of mouth. There are MANY artists out there who love doing their art and find it therapeutic…but no one else finds it amazing which is fine if you’re not using it to support yourself.

7

So do art. See if you can sell it. You do NOT need a $200,000 degree to do this if you have the talent.

Sounds like a whole lot of victim mentality to me. And what’s that about cutting off contact with parents - but letting them pay off the debt you racked up?

Get a job and work your own way out of this mess. You don’t want to be unhappy at a job? Well, welcome to the world. Most people just work because they have to, not because they love it.

8

The mental issues that you are trying to deal with are far more severe than anything that we can help you with, and they very much overshadow the other issues that you have. Stressed about issues with the family. Stressed about the prospect of a nursing career. Stressed about the possibility of not being able to be an artist. Stressed about the issue of debt. When depression strikes, it generally does feel like a situation with no way out. It sounds like you are seeking medical help, which is a great start; however, you really need to just get to the source of what those issues are and resolve them before you make any other decisions.

A lot of posts here take a “tough love” approach to it all, that suggests that you just have to take it and push forward. That may be true a lot of the time for those that simply aren’t working hard enough, but that’s not how depression works. You need to get your depression under control and then perhaps it will be more clear what the better option is. That, we really cannot help you with and you should seek medical help.

9

If you are now about to turn 27, your financial aid would be based on your own income. Have you checked what your costs at Mass Art would be now? How much help are you getting for the loans you already have? Are there ways to live so you can pay rent while in school?

How are you paying for nursing school? Is your family helping only if you do nursing rather than art?

You can certainly function as an artist without a degree, but a degree and the learning and connections at school are valuable.

And this might be the best way for you to get a bachelor’s degree, through art, regardless of what you end up doing for work. Once you have a bachelor’s, you can apply for job’s requiring a bachelor’s, and also have access to grad and professional schools (business, law, medicine, nursing). There are accelerated programs for nursing after a bachelor’s as well, and two year community college programs- so you could always return to nursing.

One of my kids has severe migraines. During high school they were daily, and the migraines were a major obstacle during college until she found the right med. Make sure you are registered with the disabilities office and have accommodations. I sincerely hope you have found the right med. For her, it was Lamictal.

To me, the worst scenario is that $100k debt without a degree. If art is the best way to get a degree, and it is as affordable as nursing, I say go for it. Noone has ever said that nursing is the only way to support yourself. You may end up with a job in art or not: but you can always do it outside of work. The degree will help you get that work.

10

If you are really driven, why are you not selling your art with the same passion?

Great, but why are you living in the past? You expect that his art authority will make you “famous”?

My eldest brother was told something similar and my parents as well as the rest of our large family struggled to help him pay for his art school. What he didn’t learn was the business of Art. Selling and managing his art was a large part of being successful and he just didn’t have that experience because it was all about the drawing and painting. Yes he is extremely talented, but without business acumen, he couldn’t sell his art.

He finally went back to school and finished his degree in another area, paid off his huge debt, while working at a local grocery store, since high school. Yes, he is 60 years old, never married, still lives at home, and is not “famous” but he’s finally out of debt. The debt caused the stress. He paints occasionally and gives away his art.

So, let’s say tomorrow, you get your BFA, what would you do? Where would you work? I don’t believe there are thousands of jobs in art, begging for new graduates. How would you set yourself up to do art? You’re in debt, how would you pay for a gallery with such poor credit? How would you pay for your supplies? The costs add up for your different media. How would you pay off that debt?

11

Most important question.

What are you currently doing for health insurance? What is your plan for health insurance in the near future?

12

Don’t take on more debt.

13

This is true. But MassArt does not meet full need…at all. The OP would get whatever amount of the Pell grant to which he or she is entitled, and a $10500 Direct Loan ($6500 as a junior plus $4000 additional for being independent)

Not sure taking an additional $10,000 in loans is a good idea.

Plus will the amount of Pell, and the Direct Loan amount fully fund MassArt? I don’t think so when you did in living expenses…and things like art supplies.

14

So get to work selling your art. That is a job in itself. It’s not just being an artist; it’s being a business person.
Do it. On-line, locally, at galleries, week ends at the park selling or doing quick sketches for quick money, craft fairs, exhibitions. whatever. Try it out. Gotta start somewhere. You’ll make mistakes but that’s the price of learning a new business. Doing art takes talent; selling it takes some business savvy.
Nobody but YOU is stopping you from pursuing your dream whether you go for it in a big way or just to make pocket money. “Get off your buts…”
See if you can make a go of it. DO NOT get into any more debt. There is nothing magical about an art degree. If there are particular classes that you feel would help hone your skill take those AS YOU CAN AFFORD THEM. Save for them in your budget.
GET A BUDGET!

You are asking us for permission to do something that you already know you want to do. We’ve never seen your art so can’t give you our very unhelpful and very biased opinions on whether you’ll be able to sell it. Only the market place will tell you that and you won’t know until you put it out there. So put it out there.
The art degree won’t guarantee you a job–you already have one since you want to work for yourself (or appear to). The question is the salary. Network with some of your art friends. Do the research on your options to use your art talent if you don’t want to sell your own stuff but want to work freelance on commissions. Build a current portfolio.

Come up with a budget and business plan–include everything–living expenses, art supplies, advertising/web site costs, pricing, loan repayment etc. Talk with people who are selling their art and get their advice. See what you need to make to be able to quit your present job or go part time to give you time to get going on the art. Or change to another job with more flexibility. Or just cram your art in after work and on days off.

In the meantime make a SHORT term goal to just get some art/art prints (or whatever your art desires) together and go sell it in some way. Pick a date (maybe from a community calendar) and go sell something. Keep to your dead line.

15

Keep your job especially if it has health insurance. Do your artwork and start showing it at local art and craft fairs. See if your local coffee house will let you display it. Look into redbubble. Get on art forums. Get on reddit and show your stuff. Lots of artisits using the internet to get their stuff out there. There are many avenues to getting your work out there.

goef has great advice.follow it.

No more art school. No more loans. No more debt.

http://www.redbubble.com/

16

I second all of the other replies that say “don’t take on more debt.” Given your health problems and your mounting student loan debt, you really need to be practical and realistic. You already have the equivalent in loans of a HOUSE (in certain parts of the country - definitely not in California, though). $118,000 is a LOT of money for 2 years of college and you’d still have 2 years to go.

A BFA is NOT worth $200,000. I would argue that it’s not worth $150,000 in student loans either. You need to have stable employment that you can tolerate while you pursue your art business on the side. Then hopefully over time, you can grow the art business to a point where it becomes your sole source of income.

17

Ok, I went and read the older thread that was posted above. If your depression issues remain as severe as they were a year ago, then stop focusing on art as a profession and use it as a therapeutic outlet. Also, from the older thread, the profession of art therapy is pretty cool. I was an intern in college at a psychiatric facility and they had art therapists come in a few times a week and do sessions with the patients and the progress those patients were able to make through art therapy was really amazing.

18

Find the most affordable school with the most financial aid based on your income and go ahead and study art. Whether a BA or BFA, a bachelor’s in art does not limit you to art careers. And it does not have to be an art school either.

Alternatively, go to community college for a two year nursing degree and do art on the side.

We don’t have information on who is paying off your loans and how. Clearly no more debt should be acquired. But having a debt that size without a degree is really heartbreaking.

19

I know an artist in his early 60’s. That’s all he does: make art, and sell it. He’s actually somewhat well known in his (small) circle: he’s exhibited in Europe, won a few commissions from the wealthy resort town not far from where he lives.

His art brings in, in a good year, maybe $15,000/year. The only way he escaped poverty and raised 2 kids was thanks to his wife - who manages/represents him, does all the paperwork for art competitions/exhibits, and also works to support them. Still, when their kids were little, they lived on very little money. Clothes were always purchased second-hand. Eating out was - out. A huge splurge was going out for an extra large pizza, part of which would be saved for next day’s lunch. They grew their own vegetables, canned them and ate them throughout the year. For years they did not have a car. They walked to the market and to school, took public transportation everywhere else. The kids knew that college costs were something parents couldn’t help with at all. Both got merit/athletic scholarships.

These are the realities for the average working artist, someone who’s actually considered somewhat successful.

You say you don’t want to be a starving artist? Then either don’t go into art, or marry rich and be supported. Otherwise, count on a lean existence, at the very least.

20

I agree with @compmom - this is the most sensible advice that could also lead to a happier situation for you. Since you are living w your boyfriend and you probably don’t want to change that, try and find a nearby school even though it may not be a place you considered “good enough” before. You can “bloom where you’re planted” and it might be a whole lot less stressful as well. And getting a degree in SOMETHING–regardless of the field–is the most important thing right now. Just having a bachelors opens a lot of doors.