<p>Did anybody get their financial aid offer from Ringling yet? How much did they offer in grants or scholarships? Is a degree in computer animation or game arts from them worth taking out loans or paying full ticket, which would come to about $160K after 4 years? Do all of their grads in these majors find employment? With starting salaries in the 40's, loans seem like a stretch. Wondering how the recession has affected jobs for new grads in these industries.</p>
<p>well, as someone paying “rack rate” of a child who passed a $40K MERIT TO ANOTHER ART COLLEGE I can say that up until last year, no , not a lot of scholarship $. There is 1 Presidential given per year per major, usually $10,000 then there is another $5000 sone, and then a handful of $1000 and under. We are thankful that our daughter’s housing for next year is they kind that no longer requires the food plan ($5,100) I don’t know what to tell you on validating the return of investment, my daughter is CA and her boyfriend of 2 years is GAD…they are currently Freashman and cannot imagine attending anywhere else, absolutely love it there and their teachers. They like being ampong students who WANT to be there. I warn you though, there are a lot who attend where money is not a concern…so they will not have debt upon graduation. I beleive prior to the recession the upswing need for these careers was going to be very strong until 2012-14…and they do know what they are doing at Ringling…it is a big decision at 18 to make, I can tell you that our daughter, once she found out she made it into the CA program, she said she would never forgive herself if she passed up the opportunity. You can’t defer for the CA/GAD programs and have automatic acceptance for the following year, you must re-submit your portfolio etc. If the new crop coming in is better than you, you are out or more than likely offered acceptance to the Illustration major. Our daughter had early acceptance for Illo, but passed on it and took a chance for CA. Our college savings got hammered, which put us a full year short of paying forr normal state school…now we can only cover 2 years @ Ringling and she will have to pay dearly for the rest. She says it’s worth it tho, no loans for a wedding ( figures 20 grand right there) the nomadic/gypsy lifestyle of those careers can mean it is best to not own a home, so she may be just fine. She has seen several success stories for current seniors, so that is encouraging. But, recruiters are going to go to many schools to get the top talent from each if possible, they will not hire only from Ringling but they do “shop” there often! They know these kids have been trained/wprked to hitthe ground running and have covered multiple areas fo their fields which is nice. Grading is rough, Ringling has a reputation for churning out top talent and they want to keep it that way. Our Daughter 1st roomate was gone in 2 months, several others have left or changed majors since then, and this is only year 1. Have you gone to see the school? We winged it…could not afford the trip but are very familiar w/Florida so knew the environmant would be a perfect match which in turn makes for one happy kid who is willing to work her behind off to be able to continue attending.
Good Luck, I will know in 3 years how marketable both majors are!
Oh, and we did not recive any FA info or this year yet, I htink it was around mid April last year when we got the sad news that only Stafford was going to be awarded. Our Daughters BF rec’d $1000 a year, his ACT was pretty high, and their GPA’s were standard, 3.5.</p>
<p>Great information! Wondering what the animation grads who DON’T get studio employment end up doing, since it sounds like the studios skim off the top. Is their foundation broad enough that those kids are prepared for other art-related jobs? Maybe your daughter can let you know what happens with this year’s graduating seniors. Or is there a good career counseling/job placement service at the school that could advise? </p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>Ringling has an excellent career center, and many Alumni keep in touch. The fact that it is such a small school, maybe 1500 total, the “human touch” is alive. My daughter feels she will be broad enough for several areas, rigging, character animation, possibly concept, a little soon yet to tell, but she does not feel like she will be too broad to be qualified, but feels she will be specialized enough for film/games industryif that makes any sense…case in point…today they have an all day storyboard meeting/presentation. Like the real world and I think it is great. Does she have to still meet her other requirements of the day, probably, just like the real world. So far, some seniors are ogoing to Pixar, Sony and several have interned for EA, Disney, Pixar…one senior won a 10,000 scholarship from EA after he interned there( Utah studios) last summer . He is a Florida resdent so I would imagine he would be considered for EA’s Orlando studio if they have not hired him already. There are many areas of Animaiton…Forensic, 2-D ( Ringling does teach this, just not the main focus for their CA program)commercial advertising…ever REALLY look at commercials? Once you have a kid majoring in it you start to see animation EVERYWHERE! The CIA hires from Ringling( yes, for CA), Target, Leo Burnett Advertising…the way I see it. yep, it is one VERY expensive degree, however, our state school was going to run 115 over 4 years, would my kid have been remotely marketable against the kids coming from these top notch programs…maybe, but doubtful. The contacts are not at the state school either. Now, not to say someone with awesome skills who is self taught or took classes here/there isn’t qualified, that is the kicker. They have no debt, can take any job becasue they do not have to make a certain amount. My kid will be working(hopefully) along side artisits like that, but that sin’t her way of preparing herself. Plus, I feel you can get hired w/out a degree/formal training, but to mive up society still looks for the degree…so far anyway. I think that will be changing a bit. A lot of contract work occurs for Animators, 2-3 years ona project and then off to find another one,it can be a rough life. My kid likes that aspec tho, she is a gypsy at heart. I have to say tho, I do threaten to make her a T-Shirt that says “Art Mjor, Want Fries With That?”
She is not a materialistic kid, shops the Good Will for her clothes, anything really. She can live on a tight budget, so hopefully she will not feel too deprived if the road is rough. Artists success usually comes from life experiences and I think Ringling does a great job of showing students how to get that into their work, and they will be taught how to get their reel/portfolio in the right way, how to interview, seek out work. Final word of advice…any artist should take a business class as they will more than likely free-lance to subsidize slow times, or just so they can still sell “their” stuff. They have to know how to protect themselves and their works.</p>
<p>Thank you Polytiki, your information is very helpful.</p>