I’ve been searching to expand D’s list of art schools and university arts programs to include some possibly more affordable options, should the merit/need-based aid turn out to be less than what we’re hoping for.
She is interested in illustration, animation, and digital/interactive media.
Does anyone know any first-hand information about any of the schools on this list?
Well to begin with, the tuition info on Wesleyan is totally off. Their tuition and fees is over $51K a year. With room and board total cost is probably over $65K a year. And yes, it’s a great school for art, theatre and film.
Check out UNCSA, Ringling College, SCAD and Columbia College Chicago.
True, I noticed that. Looking at their Methodology page, I found this statement:
Affordability
Now with our official list of top colleges in hand, we sorted the finalists by their net price. Net price, as defined by College Navigator,
“is generated by subtracting the average amount of federal, state/local government, or institutional grant or scholarship aid from the total cost of attendance. Total cost of attendance is the sum of published tuition and required fees, books and supplies, and the weighted average for room and board and other expenses.”
It is therefore important to note that net price is not the same as tuition, and the amount any individual pays will vary based on financial aid package and personal living costs.
That list of colleges doesn’t appear to have any that would be good for animation or digital media.
@ready2launch good idea looking for affordable options! Of all the schools we looked into last year a few were more generous than others. The top schools only gave minimal aid. The lesser known schools were a different story.
The best offer my D received was from Alfred University in New York State. She didn’t like the remote area, but I thought it was a very welcoming school. And they gave her a lot of grants and scholarship money.
Also a good deal was New Hampshire Institute of Art. They were also very engaged in my D’s decision and even offered her more money when she was still undecided to sweeten the pot.
University of Hartford offered an excellent merit aid package based on her grades and SATs. And she got into the Honors College too.
Ultimately she decided on Tyler at Temple University which wasn’t the cheapest but gave her a good package that made it close to what we’d have paid at an in-state school.
Hope that helps! It’s an exhausting process but definitely use CC to get feedback and tips as you go!