Question: Art colleges in Cali/NYC

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to ask a few questions. Next year, I will graduate from High school and move onto college. I’m currently looking into colleges in Cali and NE states, but because I’ve never lived outside of the home, I wanted to have some advice. I’m going to apply to art schools and there’s really good ones in Cali, but it’s really far away from home. I’m also a bit worried about the living costs. So here are my questions:

  1. On average, how much does it cost college students to live in Cali/NYC alone?
  2. What does it feel like living in Cali/NYC, if you ever lived there?
  3. Is there an art school (I'm probably going for a design major) that you particularly liked/disliked in Cali/NYC?

Thank You <3

2
  1. Do you mean living on campus or off campus? Off campus, NYC is definitely more expensive. There's also probably a better guarantee of on campus housing in Cali than NYC.
  2. I live in NYC and have visited Cali in the past. They have very different vibes. I don't find NYC to be stressful the way some people do since I grew up here, but things are definitely much more relaxed in Cali. The west coast tends to have this very easy-going feel that New York doesn't really have. However, NYC will probably give you more access to top-notch culture and art (though there's certainly a lot of that in LA and San Francisco as well!)
  3. Being a New Yorker, I only know about NYC schools, but I can tell you that Parsons is fantastic for design.
3

I can answer this for Pratt (Brooklyn campus) since we are in the midst of figuring all this out ourselves :slight_smile:

The 2015-16 Cost of Attendance for a resident at the Brooklyn campus is $61,332, including tuition, fees, room & board, and estimated personal expenses. The bulk of that is tuition at $44,580. Students who commute from home can expect to pay about $500 more in net (lodging estimated to be cheaper but transportation significantly higher), and students who live off campus will probably spend about $6,000 more in rent and transportation. If you are planning to attend Pratt, living on campus is the most economical option.

The Cost of Attendance is the # that the financial aid office will use in assessing your amount of federal and institutional need-based financial aid. It’s an “official” number and the most accurate estimate of how much it costs - all in - to attend the school. So it’s a great number to look at when you are figuring out your personal budget. All the schools will have the 2015-16 Cost of Attendance available online by now.

Cali is a very different lifestyle and feel from NYC. Architecture, people, pace of life, weather . . . all different. And then Cali itself is very diverse but that’s to be expected - after all, California spans the geographical equivalent of New England to South Carolina!

Parson’s and Pratt both have strong design programs (not sure which area of design you are interested in so you’ll need to research each one). When we visited Parson’s our student tour guide told us that a good number of students are from both coasts. Pratt has a more traditional campus-y feel to it than does Parson’s but it’s also farther away from the bustle and excitement that is Manhattan.

Good luck with your search!

4

It also depends on where in California you choose. I lived in San Diego for two years and loved it. Would go back there in a heartbeat. L.A., not so much, but there are some great art schools that are in the nicer parts of the city (UCLA and Otis) and CalArts is well out of town. Laguna Beach, where LCAD is, is one of the most beautiful places in the country. But housing is scarce and expensive there. San Francisco is also a fun place to live with a vibrant art scene, but the most expensive. The weather in all of California is great, almost all of the year. Even as far north as San Francisco the winter is mild and the summers not very hot. Transportation is a problem everywhere in Cali. You pretty much have to have a car and that adds to your cost because insuring a car in Cali is VERY expensive. In NYC you don’t need a car.

5

Thank you for your answers. I’ve never been to Cali not NYC before, so all of this information is very helpful to me. :x :x