Avrg Design School Cost
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- canuck0
Am I right to assume the US government doesn't subsidize post secondary education very much? In Canada it's relative cheap due to government involvement. Around 6k per year for tuition at most schools (supply fees extra). If you work during your summers off your end debt load ends up being around 20k, unless your mom or dad are paying for it.
- armsbottomer0
with no scholarships, Parsons is about 50-55k per year.
- 4 years will be hell of expensive, then.akrok
- yeah, they have really good internship programs, but your pretty much on your own job hunting.armsbottomer
- what's good about their program then?digdre
- internship can't be that hard to find.akrok
- Julesvm0
in canada I paid about 5k/year with no scholarships... US costs seam ridiculous.
- cause is the US people think if you spent a ton of money on something it must be better.MikeColdFusion
- cause in* oops.MikeColdFusion
- $4,600 year here (Canada) about 11 years ago.ETM
- abettertomorrow0
The U.S. system ensures that the rich can easily afford education while the poor spend their lives paying it off...capitalism, f yeah
- monNom0
^ somewhat true. If you can get work experience in your chosen field, you can probably skip the degree (I did, but was lucky and had good timing). Otherwise you need to be REALLY committed to teaching yourself, and will probably need at least the 4 years you would spend in college to be competitive with grads.
That said. Schools these days seem more like subprime mortgage brokers than higher education --Shit schools full of shit teachers rounding up shit students so they can give them a loan and get paid-- That situation's not going to do anything for you but set you back 5-10 years as you dig yourself out of debt.
By my rough guestimate, a degree is worth maybe half of your salary after 5 years working. Eg: graphic designer: $25k, Doctor: $60k, Surgeon: $100k
Otherwise you'll be saddled with debt throughout the most productive years of your life.
- kgvs720
Beware of for-profit schools. Credits may not transfer easily, if at all.
- bulletfactory0
Federal funding (Pell Grant) and scholarships paid all but about 3k of my schooling. That 3k, in addition to my on and off-campus jobs, was used for rent and food my last few years of college.
- armsbottomer0
@digre "what's good about their program then?"
not much for the basic departments, its fairly overpriced. i think one thing is that it'll look good on your resume, but so do various other colleges that have a much lower tuition.however, the department i'm in (Design & Technology) is hard to come by in terms of BFA programs. they offer a lot of programming/physical computing/game design courses that are pretty bad ass. that's mainly why i put up with the high tuition.
- fooler0
zero, but my dad was smart with his investments.
He did tell me that my "for profit" design education cost more than both my sisters university degrees combined.
- pinkfloyd0
My school went from 10k a year to 25k a year.
- Josev0
I cant imagine having 100k in debt for a design degree. I paid 5k a year, I think. And luckily I received scholarships for my last two years.
- Exactly!!!iheartfun
- and that 100k would only be for a Bachelor's degree.Josev
- I was in 10k debt after graduationpinkfloyd
- I mean, I respect our profession and believe that an education is important, but I know few high earners that can pay off that kind of debt.Josev
- that kind of debt.Josev
- The rich are getting richerpinkfloyd
- Plus, I believe there's downward pressure on wages in our profession.Josev
- Yea I cant seem how these kids going into know will be able to pay off 80Kiheartfun
- Justifiably anywayiheartfun
- of course I paid 5k a year in the 80's.Josev
- Mine was more recent. Start of 2000iheartfun
- iheartfun0
I realize some designs school are well we help you get it done quicker by making getting you out the door sooner but just doesn't seem worth it.
- Yours clearly had no focus on quality writingmonospaced
- sorry, but your sentence(s) are hardly decipherablemonospaced
- I'll take someone with design talent over punctuation abilities any day!pinkfloyd
- Unless he / she is a production artistpinkfloyd
- Someone with design talent AND an ability to communicate -- WIN!Josev
- Yeah, design is only part of how a designer communicates. Words are the majority and we should be well-versed.monospaced
- Our designers/ADs are also copywriters; it's required that their writing skills are excellentmonospaced
- Yeah, I need to work on my writing skills as well.pinkfloyd
- I don't have to deal with editing copy though, even when I was a AD. Our copywriter or CD paid more focus on the copy.pinkfloyd
- attention to the text.pinkfloyd
- no they didnt teach good communication skills or writing skills at alliheartfun
- I fail :(iheartfun
- I pay more attention now it though when im designing because of that fact.iheartfun
- ?manonthestreet
- digdre0
I pay 500€ per year. Not in US ofcourse
- scholarship?pinkfloyd
- nodigdre
- it's just cheap heredigdre
- international student are in the 5k range ofcoursedigdre
- Wow. So how do I become a citizen of your lovely country :)iheartfun
- it's part of paying the TAXES.akrok
- yes. still not as much as the numbers up there ^^^digdre
- yep. yours is way better. makes more sense.akrok
- i didn't say it was better. just cheaper.digdre
- i know. i did.akrok
- It's called "a country that values education"abettertomorrow
- Frosty_spl0
I know some people I work with both went to a for profit school (Portfolio Center) and still work in production.
And I know a guy who got 2 degrees and still isn't that good at design, and has a ton of debt and can't get a job.
I went to a state school (Auburn) and now I'm an Interactive AD at a big agency. I learned most of what I know from work experience though.
- My parents paid for my education, maybe around 40k total, I have no idea thoughFrosty_spl
- Actually less than 25k.Frosty_spl
- inhaler970
read this article.
Colleges that leave you with massive debt. 4 of the 13 are straight up Art colleges. One of them being in Detroit, another being Ringling.
- d_rek0
@inhaler97,
aye... I went to College for Creative Studies in Detroit and am really feeling the effects of 2.5 years of schooling and $50k debt.
On one hand... it was maybe the best experience i've had. Got me ins at many places and helped me develop personally and professional. It was definitely a great environment and I made some fantastic friends, colleagues and contacts.
On the other... I still have $50k debt. And $45k/year salary really isn't helping a lot to put a big dent in that. Yet.
As someone mentioned... it's all what you make of it.
- d_rek0
I will say, after having gone through my experience at CCS, that I am much more leery of master's programs for arts. I have often reflected upon my time there and have wondered similarly to some of the comments above ... about just having the motivation and drive to learn the craft and industry for a few years versus attending college.
I have thus concluded the following regarding Master's programs... unless you get a full ride/scholarship (which let's face it, is pretty rare for an art college) is that you could spend probably 1/4 of the money to develop your own studio space, experiment in your freetime, over the course of a few years and achieve the same results. Now, I suppose it's a different story if you want to 'teach' fine arts and/or design. But that's just my opinion... Master's education for fine arts/design discipline seems like a colossal waste of cash.
- Agreed. MFA only if you want to teach at the college level at some point.Jacque
- spot130
University is for people who don't know what they want to do. You don't need an education to make a lot of money in media production, you just need to know that you want to do and get out and do it.