My D is trying to decide between these two. Current interest is GD/illus. She would need to get loans of 25K/year to close the finaid gap at RISD. MassArt is a wonderful state school and we live in MA. It would cost very little for her to go there. I’m really troubled with 100K debt upon graduation. Unfortunately, I can’t just write a check for tuition. My advice is go to MassArt! RISD reputation and network carries a lot of weight. Program seems more rigid than MassArt. She did summer program at MassArt and loved it. Loved the studio space available in the dorms. Went to accepted student day at RISD and MassArt’s is coming up. Will the reputation of a BFA from RISD help get a fabulous job to offset the 100K debt??? I need advice please! To me the financial risk makes this decision a no-brainer. TIA for your thoughts.
Honestly, going to RISD is your best bet in my opinion. Although MassArt is a great school and is respected in the Art World, rankings wise, RISD trumps MassArt- many of my friends who went to MassArt claim that the campus wasn’t as big as they expected, and they wanted to be pushed more, theoretically and artistically. RISD, although very rigorous, may seem daunting, but I think it’s worth it (1 of the friends who went to MassArt for Ilus transferred to RISD for architecture, the other transferred to Pratt for Interior). RISD also has a 96% employment rate within one year of graduation, and has a graduation rate of ~87%. Although you’ll be in debt, the chances of getting a well paying job after graduation is high, and most RISD students are involved in internships throughout their 2,3, and 4 years. However, one of the things that I’ve heard the most about RISD students is that the program is ridiculously hard and you get pushed to the core. Another peeve is that RISD is in the suburbs and social life there isn’t as exciting as the other art schools who are usually in the heart of a urban setting. (this also makes it a bit difficult to get big-name internships)
Although going to MassArt= NO DEBT, which is awesome, but think about this in the long run- I think that if you’re hoping for a big job that offsets the debt for going to RISD, chances are if your daughter successfully graduates, make connections, and make the most out of her time there, she should be set. Just my two cents, but this is your daughter’s decision!
I’m an art student who got into Pratt for Interior Design, and RISD- I definitely know the struggle of choosing between two great schools. Hope this helps!
Save the money, a fine arts degree is not worth 100 grand right off the bat IMO that’s a lot of debt. They should go to Mass Art, and see how it goes. That 100k in debt can always be spent on graduate school. Better to end up with 2 degrees and 100k in debt than only 1 degree.
Parent here whose child is not going to art school. BUT, I do have a number of friends who are in their 40s and 50s who attended RISD. They all have good, and very satisfying careers, but are very far from making a lot of money. My thought is a great and satisfying career is most important, but if the concern is $100,000 in debt upon completing an undergraduate degree (and that is a very valid concern), perhaps a good student who is talented and a real “go getter” from Mass Art might just do almost as well. Particularly as most who work in graphic design nowadays appear to be freelancers.
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/graphic-designers.htm
Median graphic designer makes 46,900. 100,000 debt is more than 2 years median annual wage. I just couldn’t justify that in my mind.
MassArt is accredited by the same institution as RISD is.
National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD)
She won’t be able to pay that loan back…the parent would get stuck
A 10 yr loan of 100,000 at 6.8 interest turns out to be $138,000. A 10 yr term means loan payments of around 1150 a month. That’s 13,800 / 47,000 which is almost 30% of a persons income! Talk about being a starving artist. Good luck living anywhere graphic designers are in high demand lol.
I don’t know what’s up with all these brand new posters advising HUGE debt but it’s clear they have no idea what they’re talking about
@teaturkwie
A Mid-career median salary (10+ years in the field) for a risd grad is 10k more than massart, and that’s not worth a huge amount of debt.
Oh and if you increase the loan term to 20 or 30 years good luck being in debt for all of your better years
Thank you all so much for your comments, they are very helpful. We have to make a decision in the next couple of weeks and have Accepted Students Day this Friday. I am open to continuing thoughts and any advice, so thanks in advance!
Thank you for your perspective! Did you have to take out big loans for your education? It looks like RISD has a lot of international students paying full price. Maybe also kids from wealthy families who can write a check. We just can’t do that. Wish we could!
I’ve spent the last 2 years in community college for academic and financial reasons, but I’m going to be transferring for fall 2017 (23 but I’ve been paying for my own stuff since I was 18) and if I assume I have only my current options, I will be taking on between 25-40k in loans to finish my undergraduate degree(but it’s a big difference between 25 and 40k so I’m probably opting for the cheapest one).
However, my major will be finance. The salary outcomes for finance majors are better than for GD, and projected job growth is more optimistic as well. In addition, the avg starting salary for finance majors from my cheapest option are $60k+ so my level of debt should be pretty manageable.
The only people I know who went to RISD are artsy hipster kids with rich parents. The type of rich parents that send their kids to private schools that are not actually any better than the local public schools. I think RISD is really stingy with aid because their reputation allows them to be.
For instance, my girlfriend has a zero EFC. When she applied to undergraduate schools for landscape architecture, she was admitted to many schools (such as UC Berkeley and RISD). But even though RISD is a private institution, it was still more expensive than UC Berkeley OOS which is kind-of sad. (She had a scholarship that made UC Berkeley basically free but to go to RISD would have meant extra loans on top of the scholarship). When she was making her pick for graduate schools (also for a Masters in Landscape Architecture she had whittled her choice down to UW vs Harvard vs UPenn vs RISD. With her continuing scholarship, Harvard, UW, and UPenn would all be free, but RISD really didn’t want to match the aid that the Ivy Leagues gave her. Stingy stingy IMO.
That’s generally what I’ve heard! There isn’t too much money available for finaid, so it ends up being an art school for the wealthy. That being said, the quality of the student art work is really outstanding. Thanks so much for your input! And good luck to you!
I’ve got a kid at RISD and I vote MassArts too. D actually LOVED MassArts but we are not MA or New England residents so even though she was accepted there too, there wasn’t much of an aid package (which is fair, they don’t really have it to give as a state school)…and she actually got a really good package from RISD which made it cheaper than MassArts for our household.
My 2 cents…I have a BFA, both of my kids are going into visual arts, I love them to bits but it is NOT worth saddling ourselves and them with crippling debt. MassArts is a great school, in an amazing city, with two world class museums in walking distance, plus a bunch of other colleges nearby.
Plus as I joked with my potentially starving artist child…Harvard Dental School is next door too. Grab a potential dentist mate for future financial stability ;D
Thank you! I think the potential debt is soul crushing and not good for a young person just starting out. D is thinking the RISD degree will give her better job opportunities, but how realistic is that? I don’t know…
I really appreciate your input!
@kkartmom17 You’re welcome and feel free to DM if you’d like more info on RISD etc
I still say just go to MassArt. Then, go into debt for that graduate degree IF necessary. But tastes change! Maybe your child will get a BFA in GD and then realize their passion is actually landscape architecture or industrial design or maybe they want to start their own business so they end up going for a MBA or something. I’d hate to go into that much debt for undergrad.