janbeach

I was wondering if these private art schools were not affordable for us, if there were any liberal arts schools that offered good programs.

elma

Massart (Massachusetts College of Art and Design) is a Public Art College and is more affordable than the private ones.

My son decided early on in the process that he wanted a stand alone art college, so unfortunately, I have no suggestions for liberal arts colleges. You do have to decide whether you want a BFA degree where most of your courses are art related or a BA degree.

My son and I found the book, "Peterson's College Guide for Visual Arts Majors" to be very helpful in my son's college search. At the time, we did not know about college confidential and had no idea where to start.

momrath

jan, there are several liberal arts colleges that offer good studio art and art history programs, but I'd like to ask for more clarification about your financial needs.

All of these are private LACs and will provide some degree of need based financial need. If your family qualifies for need based aid, then you can put together an open ended list. If, on the other hand, you are looking for merit based aid your list would be somewhat different.

Some suggestions in varying degrees of selectivity: Williams, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Vassar, Skidmore, Conn College, Smith (if female), and Kenyon and Oberlin (in the midwest).

Heron

The best way to find out is to check the art course offerings at the colleges. Many colleges are said to have strong art departments, and there are a handful that are always mentioned, but when you look at the course catalogs you discover that they don't actually offer that many art courses. Some deserve the good reputation (Conn College and Yale come to mind). But check the tires before buying the car.

MomofaKnight

Take a look at Skidmore College--they are known for their arts and have an art museum on campus

Caleno

Rhode Island School of Design is fabulous and has interesting course cross registration with Brown.

taxguy

Yes, RISD does have cross registration with Brown BUT

1. RISD is not a liberal arts college,which the OP requested
2. It isn't that easy to fit Brown courses into the RISD schedule due to differences in semester timing and that RISD has a lot of studio courses that interfere with take Brown courses. It can be done;however, it isn't as easy as some posters would lead you to believe.

kalonity

It's apparently also not as hard as RISD would have you believe. My friend there says a bunch of his friends actually took Brown classes freshman year, even though they say it's "impossible."

liz6298

I'm intending to go to a LAC on the east coast and major in studio art so maybe I can help?

It seems studio art is a really hard thing to judge in LACs until you actually visit the campus, look at the facilities, look at the artwork students are producing, talk to professors in person, find out what kind of funding the department has, how often students display work in a gallery setting, research course offerings, etc...

If you are expecting the kind of facilities a stand alone art school can provide, it's possible you may be disappointed. I was a little (I'm transferring from an art school), although I've only actually seen the facilities at one school recommended to me in the beginning of my search, which I ended up not even applying to.

One of my old threads might help you as far as getting a few colleges to use as a starting point:

liberal arts (and other not stand-alone art) schools in the northeast

One thing to note, though, is that many of these liberal art colleges cost just as much as the art schools.... as momrath mentioned, you've got to figure out what kind of financial aid different schools can provide, and what you're eligible for.

momrath

so, liz, where will you attend?

jocan

It's good to visit. I visited some LACs said to have good art departments and was really disappointed with the quality of the work and with the class and studio space. I would rather go to a standalone art school and cross-reg at a local LAC or university.

I second the MassArt suggestion. And the Peterson's Guide, which I just found, too late! It has a lot of info on VA programs including, I think, financial.

partyhippie

hey im looking at LACs and im also interested in art (woo hoo!)
Skidmore & BARD (love this school) offer good programs
i looked at hampshire too, there art program is good AND you have access to smiths (5 college consortium) art facilities and classes which i heard ther renowed for.
here are the ones not so heard of
um Alfred university in upsate NY, very good art program
sulfolk in boston, AMAzing art program, there art div used to be the previous new england school of art & design, i went ther the studios are amazing
oh and american univ. in DC ...

you want studio art im assuming right? or like general art...

also: not LAC but syracus and univ. of michigan have supposivly GREAT art/design programs

liz6298

momrath-- I'm not sure where I'll attend yet since I haven't gotten all my admission decisions, but I've gotten into Hampshire and am still waiting to hear from Wesleyan and Bard. I also got into UGA, my state university, and although obviously nothing like a LAC, it's being strongly considered since they do have a good art program and very nice facilities and the tuition is, uh, free.

amptron2x

janbeach:

If cost is your major consideration, you should explore state schools which typically have much lower tuition and other costs than private LACs or Universities. Here's a short list of some state schools (mainly in the East) with good or decent art schools or art departments which I compiled for my D's college search:

SUNY Purchase
SUNY Alfred
Rutgers (Mason Gross School of the Arts)
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Montclair State University (in NJ)
Florida State University
Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (Peck School of the Arts)
Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.)

I'm sure here's many more out there, but, because we live in the East, these are the ones I've come across.

jocan

Liz6298, you should check with Wesleyan and Bard. Their letters went out at the beginning of the month. (Me: in at Bard, not at Wesleyan.) Did you get waitlisted?