Pricey it is! Personally, i had help from my parents for the first year, got a scholarship, and still ended up 100k in debt. It’s something that’s really important for kids considering college to think about. I had no idea when i took out my loans just HOW much money 100k was. I’m making decent money at a major animation studio and it’s still going to take me 8 years to pay it off. (and i’m paying way more than my minimum payment– my monthly payment is more than my LA rent.)Â
SCAD does offer scholarships that can cut the cost significantly. Make sure you pull together an artistic portfolio, and if you have good grades you can get an academic scholarship, too. If you’re applying to other schools, use those scholarships as leverage. Don’t just accept the first offer SCAD gives you– you can always come back and say “hey, this other school is giving me more… anything you can do about that?” If i had known to do this, i could have saved 20k. Outside of SCAD, you should be applying to local scholarship opportunities as well. I didn’t get a ton of money this way, but something is better than nothing.Living off-campus saves you a ton of money, and you can still apply your student loans to your rent and living expenses. DEFINITELY look into this if you’re comfortable with the idea. I lived on-campus until my senior year, and that’s another place i could have saved. Other than that, you may want to consider taking your foundations classes at a local school and transferring to scad after a year or two. The bummer of this is not getting the full “college experience” (Freshman orientation, living in dorms, etc etc). But if that’s not important to you, that’s another way to save on classes. Any AP credits you can get to roll over can save you some, too. If you do take out loans, the quicker you pay them off the more money you save. But if you take out 100k, you’re probably going to end up paying 120k over the lifetime of the loan, or more. I’m paying mine off as quickly as possible, but i know other people who put it on the backburner and pay the minimum for 15, 20 years. Government loans (FASFA) are usually more flexible in payback plans, and lower interest rates.If you really want to save money… you could also not go to art school. There are plenty of people in animation who are self-taught. It’s not easy, and you really need to be able to push yourself and seek communities and resources online, but it can be done. You just need to really ask yourself what the best environment is for you to work in, and what your needs are during this time of your life. (I personally needed to leave my hometown, so off to school i went.)Another long post! but i hope that gives you a better idea of what it’s all like. I certainly had no idea, and i might have done a few things differently if i had a little more info. Good luck!
discoholicmusic
andulkaphoto
vaporwave
jacobvanloon
blakekathryn
kaledo-art