<p>I applied and got accepted to an awesome school that I've always wanted to go to but then applied to another one just last Friday that is an art school, not the traditional liberal arts school like the earlier. If I get into the arts school, it will cost roughly $40,000 dollars a year more without scholarships. I want to go there but I don't know if I get in should I? Will I have a future with over $200,000 in student loans? PLEASE HELP!</p>
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With $200k in loans, unless you get a 6-figure salary right out of college, which is unlikely for an art major, banks will not loan you money to buy an apartment, a house or even a car. Please read this article and if presented with the choice in April, think really carefully beyond the next 4 years: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html?pagewanted=1&src=me”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html?pagewanted=1&src=me</a></p>
<p>it’s an art school. you could come out and make millions but it’s more likely you will make less than other graduates. you yourself cannot take out 200K in loans anyway, and it’s unlikely your parents would do so since you don’t seem to have made them and their finances a part of your college selection process. enjoy that really awesome school that you’ve really wanted to go to and make the very best of it. start planning now for what classes you want to take and where you want to live. if you can, go visit it again and fall in love again. You’re like the recently married person who’s so overwhelmed by everything getting married means that you start wondering if you should have pursued someone else. It will pass.</p>
<p>and talk to your parents about what they’re going to have to pay to send you to school #1.</p>
<p>The maximum you should take in loans is $31,000 (the federal limit for student federal loans). Anything above that is insane. With $80,000+ in debt, you won’t be allowed to buy a car, an apartment, or get a loan for anything until you’re 40.
The awesome school probably has an art major. Double major in art and something else. Go back during admitted student days, sit in on a class, do an overnight. If this was your #1 school for a long time, there’s a reason.</p>
<p>hurdle: speak to graduates of art schools and get their feedback. My brother is an instructor (adjunct prof) at one and 5 years after graduation, upwards of 70% of them are no longer working in the art field due to low earning potential. He leads a senior seminar and told them this truth: “when you go out and pitch yourself for a free-lance job, I’ll be in the waiting room with my portfolio too.”</p>
<p>You’d better figure out what a $200 K debt would do to your quality of life for the next 30 years after you graduate.</p>
<p>Thank you all! I probably will end up going to my first choice. I did fall in love with it and I have spent the night there and it was awesome. The only reason I was considering my art school was because my parents never really supported a career in art until now. I know I’m not good enough to just go and work up my debt (my parents can pay very little because we have a large family) and then go out into the world expecting a job. The best I could do would be a portrait photographer, art gallery owner, or a curator/humanities teacher. Again thank you all for your input and I will explore further.</p>
<p>It would be very different if you parents were able to pay for either school without hardship. It looks like you would never get loans for the art school anyway, even if you somehow got cosigned loans for the first year, what happens when you can’t get them for the 2nd year and have to drop out, then your loan payments kick in? This is a very real consideration that happens to students who don’t think things through. Now read this public service thread from one such student
<a href=“pursuing a new degree after 100k debt for unfinished RISD degree: a cautionary tale - Visual Arts and Film Majors - College Confidential Forums”>pursuing a new degree after 100k debt for unfinished RISD degree: a cautionary tale - Visual Arts and Film Majors - College Confidential Forums;
<p>I have a buddy who’s a retired commercial photographer and very accomplished. he says that with the advent of cell phones and digital cameras, everyone thinks they’re a photographer and they don’t want to pay for photographers at weddings and formal occasions. don’t count on making much as a photographer.</p>
<p>There are also professional photography courses available !!!</p>
<p>You’re better off double majoring in business and art, art & something else you like (+ a couple basic business/statistics) courses, than graduating from art school. This way, if you have an opportunity in art you can seize it, but you can still have a career in something else if art doesn’t pan out while keeping your interest in art a hobby.</p>