Texas Junior
Budget 25k/year
Visual Art/Animation
*4.1, 1450
5-AP’s (score 4,4,5,4, 5)
5 years Band
3 years Varsity Choir
2 years Theater
Eagle Scout (one of the first all girl group troops in BSA)
Honor society
Texas A&M?
Stanford?
CalArts?
University of Wash?
I need ideas!
Unless you have significant financial need, you won’t get Stanford down to $25,000 a year.
University of Washington is OOS for you…and it will be hard to get this price down to $25,000 a year.
Same with CalArts.
Look at UT Dallas.
First you need to pick out two safeties. These are schools where admissions is nearly certain, that have a good program in the student’s intended major, and that are going to be affordable. With a $25,000/year budget, these are very likely to be in-state public universities.
Stanford is a reach for pretty much every academically very strong student (and out of reach for everyone else). An SAT score of 1450 is very good, but is low for Stanford. If your daughter is interested, then perhaps the first thing to do is to run the NPC and see whether it is likely to be affordable. If the parents are divorced, or own a small business or rental income then the NPC is likely to be inaccurate and too optimistic. Otherwise there is a good chance that it will be close to accurate. Use the NPC on the university’s own web site. For example, if you google “Stanford university net price calculator” you should be able to find the one for Stanford. If it looks likely to be affordable, then it might be worth an application. However, do not expect your daughter’s chances to be any better than the 3.7% acceptance rate, and it may be lower than this.
I have no idea whether CalArts is likely to be affordable. I also do not know whether U.Washington would be affordable, but it would surprise me if it were.
OOps. I removed the part about WUE since Texas is not a WUE state. My apologies.
Seattle University might work. They don’t promise to meet full need, but they do meet a fair bit and have some good merit scholarships. Their art programs are excellent, and I know students who have gone on to work in animation.
Since you’ve started an official “Match Me” thread for your D, I’ll copy over my suggestions from your other thread:
This may be a good idea!
Is UT Dallas more of a commuter school? What about the rigor with high grades?
Texas isn’t a WUE state.
Utah won’t quite get to $25K (more like $130K total for 4 years if you get residency) but may be closer than some of the other options listed by OP.
You are correct. Oops.
Do you have demonstrated need or is $25K a budget but you are full pay.
Stanford doesn’t give merit.
U Washington will not be close.
Unless you have significant demonstrated need, you need to choose a school that comes in at $25K.
There’s a ton of schools in Texas.
Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, UAH will come in at or under budget as will W Carolina.
Florida State (if you get an OOS waiver), New Mexico, and more may come in at budget.
When you set a budget, you have to go to the schools that will meet the budget.
Hoping for schools that won’t come close to meeting is a bad strategy.
Now - why Alabama or Ole Miss, etc. as they are not $25K?
Because these schools buy in the creme de la creme to enhance their overall student body - so your student’s strong academics pay off in spades.
Who has animation at these - I don’t know. But these are schools to start with.
You might also look at Southern Illinois, C Michigan and I believe C Arkansas…the first two don’t charge OOS tuition. I don’t believe the third does either.
PS - is 4.1 a weighted GPA - what’s the unweighted?
There’s so many Texas schools from Lamar to Texas Tech…surely one can work.
Good luck.
There were a lot of great suggestions for schools with animation or art and technology majors in the other thread. Wisest to start with many of those suggested schools with the major she wants (if looking at a BFA be sure it has enough opportunity to get the tech/animation piece) and then do a deep dive on the cost and opportunity for merit (and need) aid.
Can you run the NPC on Stanford - what is the number under “net price”?
Do you know your SAI? (Would you qualify for Pell grants?)
What area in Texas are you from - these stats would be interpreted very differently depending on the type of school she attends, whether it’s Title I or rural, etc.
I was going to post the same. 
@jenichelle we really need to know if you will qualify for need-aid or if you must meet your budget on merit aid alone (or a combination). We only need to know if the Stanford NPC estimate is affordable to you. You don’t need to share details you aren’t comfortable sharing. Once we know this the hive mind can make suggestions that are closer to fitting your needs and save you a lot of legwork.
The college application process has really become crazy over the years. Many, many parents are shocked at today’s cost of an education and many end up on CC trying to find the best affordable fit. You’re starting at a perfect time to allow your family to research and hopefully visit some schools over junior year. I look forward to following your student’s journey. She sounds like an amazing kid.
My daughter wants to mix engineering and animation. And I think there is a chance she’ll change to just animation. So we looked at colleges with both degrees or at least a large offering for a minor in animation. Her stats are very similar. Our budget was $25k/year as well, for out-of-state. We relied on merit only with no need-based aid. These may not be what you are looking for as far as the animation goes, but I thought it might help.
Central Michigan - offers an animation degree. We thought the art/animation was a very nice set-up. No out-of-state increase of tuition. They have a Centralis scholarship for tuition or full-ride. The application is not simple and is due November 1. There is then an in-person portion in December. But it seems that many are given out. My daughter won tuition and knows 2 others that did. We also know a couple kids who have the full-ride there.
Western Michigan - they have a BS in Kinetic Imaging with an animation concentration in their art college. We never toured the art/animation department. Full cost for OOS is $35k and she’d get a $4k auto scholarship. There are others to apply to as well. We thought they were a little stingy on scholarships compared to other Michigan colleges. It might get to your price though.
U of Tulsa - they might have something. My daughter liked their computer simulation degree, which combined engineering and animation very well. It was her top choice of program and they had some amazing labs we saw. But it is very expensive and you won’t get to $25k unless you are NMF or get the Presidential scholarship. She was only commended, unfortunately. She did not get the scholarship unfortunately.
Ohio U. - has an animation degree. We never visited, so I can’t say much. But our cost came in under $20k/year.
U of Alabama in Huntsville - has a few options for animation. My daughter is a freshman there. She is majoring in engineering and doing a minor in game design and animation. It is just under $20k/year for tuition and room/board. Auto scholarships bring the price down easily.
Good luck.
UT Dallas is a school that does have plenty of commuters because it is a large school located in a large metro area. On the other hand, it also has a really nice core of students who live on campus. A good friend of my son is there from the upper Midwest, on the National Merit package. She is having a great time. The school does not have a traditional Southern school vibe with Big Sports or Big Greek. Instead it has a fun, collaborative nerdy vibe. Kids who might get together and play board games.
Not completely sure what you are asking here. UT-Dallas has lots of students with rigor and high grades. Its average SATs/ACT scores are actually the same as UT-Austin. Your D would find many smart and hardworking peers.
ETA: I you have not done so already, I recommend joining the Facebook group “Parents of Arts & Design Students”
Rhode Island School of Design is nationally ranked. I haven’t seen this mentioned. Not sure on the cost.
Texas A&M : my daughter is in the visualization degree program which is in the college of PVFA (performance, visualization, and fine arts.) Great animation program! Lots of opportunities. She has received scholarships, awards, serves as an officer for the women in animation club, lots of animation related activities, events, contests. Her concentration is animation with a minor in graphic design.
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