University then Art School Transfer???

So, my kid has been accepted to U of M Ann Arbor thru their art program BUT he was also accepted to CCS, SAIC and Columbia Art School in Chicago. His high school has a scholarship that pays the tuition all four years at U of M and with other scholarships, it would be almost free. BUT everyone says it is not the school to go to for illustration/animation. CCS is a better fit but he is looking at 40k a year right now unless things change. Does it make any sense to go to U of M to take all required classes that would transfer and then go to CCS? I want him to graduate with a little debt as possible.

Graduating debt free is a big deal but to compare ‘apples to apples’ as best you can I’d ask for a course catalog to see if UofM offers the kind of classes he’d need to pursue his career goals. Also ask some hard questions about what kind of networking, job prep, industry guest speakers etc he’d have exposure to in their program.

Thanks. All the professionals we spoke with in the field say they don’t hire from U of M as a rule. The program is too broad. But we are thinking maybe he can save some money by transferring in to a better school later. Still gathering info…

I teach in an art dept BFA program, so be careful re transfer issues. Most of freshman year in BFA programs are the ‘foundations’ year, then sophomore year you begin to specialize in your major. Sophomore year course work is often the prereq courses for then junior/senior level studio classes.

So in our program we’ll often get students who’ve done 2 years at a CC to understandably save money, BUT they basically enter our programs as new sophomores to stay on track/make the required course work of their major. So they save maybe 1 year of tuition, but not two (ie 2 years at CC and then THREE more years in our program).

So basically, he may be able to transfer all of his freshman year credits BUT sophomore year might need to be repeated.