<p>//I have had quite a bit experience with SCAD and it is a mixed bag. Regarding the issues of accreditation...SCAD is a for profit institution, unlike most accredited schools. They do not subscribe to concept of tenure for faculty. As noted by an earlier post, the faculty are required more student contact hours than most colleges and universities, leaving less time for individual faculty work. It is also my understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) that SCAD has students sign a waiver stating SCAD owns the copyright of all student work produced while at SCAD. Finally, faculty are required to spend a predetermined amount of time recruiting new students. Each year I have been told by a SCAD rep. that SCAD is in the process of applying for accreditation. After seeing how SCAD aggressively moved into Atlanta and is in the process of taking over Atlanta College of Art, I am uneasy about encouraging my students to attend SCAD.
Having said all of that, I have attended 5 week long summers of workshops at SCAD. Everyone of the faculty I have had over the years were experienced, professional, extremely knowledgeable, very friendly and helpful.
I have reluctantly sent a number of students to SCAD over the years. In fact, I think I have 7 former students currently attending SCAD. I teach in Atlanta, so SCAD is a serious option for those who want to attend an art school, but want to stay close enough to home. For a variety of reasons, most of my former students attending SCAD didn't have a portfolio together for college. SCAD will take anyone who is willing to pay. Hence the mixed bag of art students. Most of those students love the school. The digital facilities: animation, computer graphics, gaming, etc. are amazing. Even in jewelry design, SCAD has an amazing computer generated pattern maker. I just worry if a student wants to transfer out of SCAD, how will their credit hours transfer?!
As far as student safety...Savannah isn't the safest of small cities. A student was killed at a local gas station adjacent to the dorms just a few years ago. The SCAD security/ school are very responsive to student security needs, but the fact of the matter is, many of the SCAD buildings aren't located in the safest areas of town. The buses do run regularly and students can wait for the buses inside the buildings in the evening. Needless to say, I hear MICA has its share of problems with security as well.//</p>
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<li><p>SCAD is NOT for profit. They do operate "for profit" services, but they are separate from the college. Many of them are operated by students to give them professional experience.</p></li>
<li><p>SCAD does not offer tenure. Faculty are evaluated annually. If you suck, you are not offered a contract. Tough luck for you, so don't suck. Many schools operate this way. I know of faculty that have been there for 10 to 15 years. They don't suck. That's why they are there.</p></li>
<li><p>I believe you are correct about contact hours. However, there was a 6-week vacation over the winter and faculty could choose or not choose to teach during the summer quarter. Also, the college did offer monies for faculty to pursue their own research and projects. I have saw and heard about several faculty projects; books, shows, etc. paid for by the college.</p></li>
<li><p>The school retains the right to use student work for promotional purposes. The school did/does not assume copyright ownership. Here is the official policy as it was written a few years back, I assume it would be the same:</p></li>
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<p>"The college reserves the right to use student work and photographs or videotapes of students and their work for display, documentation, instruction and in publications or other materials about the college."</p>
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<li><p>Faculty rotate through SCAD visitation days, maybe twice per year to meet with students. Students appreciated the one on one discussion with professors rather than admission reps. I think we're talking about 16 hours per year committment in two 8-hour blocks - something like that.</p></li>
<li><p>SCAD is accredited. I was there in the mid-1990s and it was accredited by SACS. Every 3 or 4 years the school has to be reviewed again. That's the way it works. Can't tell you about NASAD. I don't find this to be a problem. Look at the faculty list, many many come from NASAD schools. The education they received is probably passed down to the students. Why would you be concerned about your students if your experiences with the faculty were positive?</p></li>
<li><p>SCAD doesn't require a portfolio because you cannot penalize students who come from high schools with limited or no art classes which are often subject to budgetary cuts and not always taught by the best teachers. Also, it is well documented that students with high GPAs tend to do well at many endeavors, especially in the applied arts. They did take a lot of students, many were accepted conditionally, and if their GPAs fell below a 2.0 it was, "see ya later." MFA students must submit portfolios however.</p></li>
<li><p>Student credits transfer just fine to SVA, RISD, MICA, anywhere. There is no cause for concern. You seem to be misinformed.</p></li>
<li><p>No student at any other college across the nation in any city has ever been killed? It only happens at SCAD right? As you said, it happened off campus. The city does have a crime problem. Mostly people breaking into cars. I am told the college is extremely security conscious nowadays with busses at all hours from building to building, etc.</p></li>
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