<p>I am helping a young friend search for colleges that might fit her needs. She has been in this country for only a few years and is not a native English speaker. Her math skills are strong, ACT 27, but has an overall score of 20 due to lower verbal scores. She is a first generation college student, is looking for a fashion design program, and will need financial aid to cover most of the cost of college. She is willing to relocate to any part of the country but lives in the South. Any ideas?</p>
<p>What is her gpa? Does she have a fashion portfolio or related experience? Is she eligible for Federal Fin’l aid (green card)? How much can her parents contribute? What state is she in?</p>
<p>Check if any of these are instate for her. I don’t know how she is going to get ‘financial aid to cover most of the cost of college.’ She can get whatever Pell she is eligible for and her student loan. I don’t think too many colleges offer fashion and meet full need. You’ve not made any case for merit aid. Maybe a community college for 2 years and transfer to an instate that offers fashion?</p>
<p>[Top</a> 75 Fashion Design Schools in the US | Fashion Schools](<a href=“http://www.fashion-schools.org/articles/top-75-fashion-design-schools-us?page=0,0]Top”>http://www.fashion-schools.org/articles/top-75-fashion-design-schools-us?page=0,0)</p>
<p>As BrownParent said, Fashion Design colleges offer very lousy financial aid.
If financial aid is paramount, she should look into colleges that meet 100% need - many schools with Fashion design majors won’t offer sufficient financial aid for her to attend and on top of it often package loans!</p>
<p>A good way for her might be to try and attend a state school in design, or perhaps a good business program that has fashion merchandising and add a design minor?
Baside a state school, to maximise financial aid, she would need to find a private school within her score range that values geographical diversity (ie 400+ miles) and seeks to increase cultural diversity (does she speak more than one language?)
A 20 as an ESL/ELL student is respectable, but might she be able to retake? There’s a test in December, with a November 8 registration deadline.
She’d likely hae to compromise on her major.
(On the other hand, the great majority of freshmen change majors.)</p>
<p>If you tell us her GPA and state, we may have ideas.</p>
<p>If she’s a permanent resident and if she’s really serious about fashion design, then she should look at FIT in New York. Financial aid isn’t guaranteed, and it may consist of loans and work-study, but many, many low income FIT students make it work.</p>
<p>If she’s not 100% committed to fashion and wants a general liberal arts education she might look at Skidmore. Depending on her ethnic ground, she might get a “diversity boost.”</p>
<p>As mentioned her parents financial situation will be the determining factor on how much need based aid she receives. Have they tried a net price calculator? Merit aid for fashion is dependent on mainly on talent, so back to paragraph one.</p>
<p>Fashion Design schools won’t have the aid she needs. </p>
<p>Does she have a green card or is she a citizen.</p>
<p>Many local CCs offer Fashion Design. She could start there.</p>
<p>I echo the comment about FIT in NYC. It’s one of those amazing CUNY schools. If she gets nyc resident status, then she goes for a fraction of the cost of most schools (FIT = $4K/semester for instate residents). The downside is that the city has expensive rents. The school is very good for what it does, very well known; she would have access to the amazing museums of the city; would work directly in the industry here (internships and first-job opportunities also mentorships through the school); and the city is large with a great transportation system. This means that she could live in lower-cost areas and easily commute in. FIT is located centrally, accessible by most subway systems easily, meaning that she could live in some of the more tree-filled areas of the Bronx (yes there are some lovely neighborhoods in the Bronx with trees and back yards); or in Queens; or in Brooklyn; or even on Staten Island, which is inexpensive. Most people who have only visited NYC as tourists are intimidated by the costs, but people who live in the city learn inexpensive ways to do things. Roommates are normal for young people starting out. A second option is the Art Institute of Chicago, which has aid. Parsons is also excellent but I don’t know about aid and tuition is $39K. Her best bet, however, would be to attend school in NYC at FIT if possible and get work while she’s in school or during summers–offsetting her costs while in school and getting experience and connections along the way.</p>