Sara Laszkiewicz
Approximately 2.5 million people in the United States alone are employed as artists (Bureau of Labor Statistics). It is assumed that to achieve and receive the best art education and the best future career in the art field, the best plan is to attend art school. No matter the amount of awards that specific school has received, the amount of prestige the art school presents, or even the amount of success that certain alumni have received after art school. Being that most art schools are private not for profit institutions, they present significantly higher tuition rate. Meaning that students will receive a higher amount of student loans and higher amount of debt in the future. Art school may not be the most economical nor reasonable choice to receive a Fine Arts degree.
“7 of the top 10 most expensive schools in the U.S. (after scholarships and aid) are art schools” (Artists Report Back; BFAMFAPhD 2014). A majority of art schools are declared private institutions that are only funded by their increased yearly tuition or by generous donations. 30% of art school tuition in the 2016-17 academic year ended up being apart of the institution's funds which lead to a total of $243 billion of total revenue.
Percentage distribution of total revenues at degree-granting postsecondary institutions for each control of institution, by source of funds: 2016–17
As young adults entering into the real world, a large majority of this population can not currently pay for a 4-year post-secondary education out of pocket. We are primarily looking at financial aid and student loans to cover any type of college tuition costs. According to the College for Creative Studies which is a private not for profit art school in Detroit, Michigan, “98% of students receive financial aid. CCS is affordable.” How can this art school say that they have affordable pricing when a majority of their student body is, in the end, going to have to be paying approximately $32,600 worth of debt (in 2017) a year? They can’t, it is simply an advertising ploy to entice young adults who are interested in art into believing that they will save a significant amount of tuition if you attend their institution. Even students at some of the largest and most prestigious art schools, have a hard time paying their student loans back. According to the Artists Report Back study completed in 2014, 13% of Ringling School of Art and Design students defaulted on their loans (were not able to pay their loans within the agreed amount of time). 11% of Berklee College of Music students defaulted their loans, 10% of Pratt Institute students defaulted on their loans. No matter where any of these students come from, the amount of student tuition and debt that is expected to be paid right out of college, can be extremely difficult for a large population of art school graduates to handle.
You are most likely wondering if art school is going to break your bank account, where should I go to get a fine arts degree? The best way to still earn the education needed to blossom in the art world without paying tens of thousands of dollars in debt is to attend either a public-in state 4-year university majoring in your specific art focus. Or to instead choose to start at a 2-year technical college that contains the art major you want to study. According to U.S. News, the average tuition for a 4-year in-state school was approximately $9,716 a year (in the 2018-19 academic year). Whereas the average 2-year technical college tuition in the state of Wisconsin approximately $4,095 a year. Which is significantly lower amount of tuition then paying $35,676 a year to attend private art school. It doesn’t matter the path that you take to reach your desired dream career/job, what matters is having a financially stable job in the end. It doesn’t matter if you end up getting an associate's degree in art/design or you get a 4-year Fine Arts degree, if you can find a lifelong career. While looking and imagining yourself studying art 24/7 sounds like the ultimate dream for an artist, don’t forget to consider your current financial situation and how these current college decisions can affect your financial future.
Works Cited
AbigailJHess. “Here's How Much the Average Student Loan Borrower Owes When They Graduate.” CNBC, CNBC, 20 May 2019.“Craft and Fine Artists : Occupational Outlook Handbook:” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Jahoda, Susan, et al. “Artists Report Back: A National Study on the Lives of Arts Graduates and Working Artists.” Edited by Caron Atlas et al., BFAMFAPhD, BFAMFAPhD, 2014.
MyCollegeGuide.org. “College Terminology Decoded: For-Profit, Nonprofit, Private and Public Universities.” My College Guide, 16 June 2017.
“New Report Reveals Findings on Artists and Other Cultural Workers.” NEA, 24 Apr. 2019.
“Public Vs. Private Colleges.” My College Options - Public Vs. Private Colleges.
“Student Loan Resources: Financial Aid & Loan Debt Management.” Debt.org.
The Condition of Education - Postsecondary Education - Finances and Resources - Postsecondary Institution Revenues - Indicator May (2019).
“The Cost of Private vs. Public Colleges.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report.
“Tuition & Aid.” College for Creative Studies.
“Tuition and Material Fees.” Wisconsin Technical Colleges, 2 Aug. 2019.
“What Does It Mean to ‘Default’ on My Federal Student Loans?” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
I think it would be a bad idea to attend a private non profit art school because the tuition is too high, you would be paying to earn a degree that doesn't earn a lot of money if you ever get a career in it, careers are hard to get in art, so all these factors would make someone go into debt.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting topic to hear about, especially since a good amount of readers might really benefit from the information. How much does being able to find and have a job in the fine arts field play into this? Could all the people that default on their loans just be those that couldn't find a job? It seems like it is hard to get a job in the fine arts field, so if you go to a less reputable school, will you be able to get your dream job? You may not have as much debt, but you might also not have a job or the job that you want. I think attending a private arts school would definitely increase the amount of debt you may have purely due to the cost of attendance/tuition, but I think you also have to consider first if this is a problem just for people in fine arts (or if the debt is similar across all fields at private schools), and then if it is because of the schooling, job opportunities, or both.
ReplyDeleteThis is really thinking outside the box. Not a lot of people think about how art students and artist get to where they are and to see that you have a passion is very cool to see as well. Private art schools will diffidently help more then they will hinder and it's a great thing that you are looking at this the other way around. Accepting closer jobs and being open to the opportunities is also really important considering the debt you might receive.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was considering going to MIAD for an Illustration degree, I can attest to the aspect of cost being a big deterrent when deciding if art school is the right path to take. The research you did, painted a good picture for those unaware of this aspect of art school and really made the reader think about a new point of view that may have not been considered before.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with everything you said in this. My mom has a masters in Fine Arts, but she got her degree in India and like 20 years ago so she paid significantly less. I think that it is so hard to be employed with a degree in arts and you don't get paid enough for the cost of college. I think that you put a lot of effort towards this blog which is very admirable.
ReplyDeleteAs a naive freshman I came into high school thinking I was going to enter fashion at some prestigious school. Here to find out, during college research, that I would be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Now that entering the real world and college is becoming real, the more I find myself stressing out about how I'm going to pay for college. I totally agree with your paper, that students need to start looking at private art schools that are closer to home, and start taking all opportunities that come their way, just to get their foot in the window.
ReplyDeleteWow. I'm not an artist and have never looked into art school before, but the tuition costs for high school are ridiculously high! The fine arts are already hard to get into, since your popularity or commercial involvement puts you on the map, but the added stressor of paying to get the degree to get yourself out there is insane. Sure they might give you financial aid, but it's not worth much if you're still paying thousands and thousands of dollars a year to go to their school. In the end, it just makes more sense to go to public school.
ReplyDeleteI never thought that art school would be that expensive! I can understand that there is risk for going into art because it isn't a fast growing job, especially now as graphic design and online art programs are being used for a lot of the art used in shows and advertisement.
ReplyDeleteI agree that art school and collage in general is deceiving, and will cost you a lot more money than you thought. But you also have to think about what jobs that opens up for you when you have a collage degree. In the long run it will be a worth while investment if you get it off the ground and that simply takes hard work.
ReplyDeleteA good rule of thumb I was told about choosing a school is that you should never choose a school & major combination that leaves you with more student loans than your expected first year's salary. It goes without saying that art majors don't make a ton of money, even if they do find some success right out of school. Combining that with spiking private university tuition rates, and it's no wonder young adults in this country are a few billion dollars in debt. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. I know there is a huge problem with student debt and I think a lot of that has to do with students picking majors that lead to low paying jobs in the future. I don't believe that financial aid should just be given to everyone, but rather you could only get it if you had a plan to pay it off in the near future. Getting an art major is not going to cover that most of the time.
ReplyDelete