I went to MICA in Baltimore MD, which not only costs an arm and a leg, but my brother went to Maine College of Art in Portland Maine, and it was a nice college. The Illustration department just got started when he entered but that was a while ago now. I recommend looking there.

i was also looking at mica :( they're gonna be in my state for national portfolio day. i was gonna give them a look but yeh... also super expensive. i'll definitely look into maine college of art as i also have family in maine wahoo

I went to DigiPen

(Do not go to digipen)

idk, their website has this on it:

https://www.digipen.edu/typo3temp/p.....c57348adca.jpg

i mean... flying super hero dog

The problem with it is that digipen was a programming school first, and an art school second.

They had a hard time getting their shit together, and the workload is insane. 50 pages of sketches a week first semester, 100 pages the next.

There is a very high dropout rate to the workload, and most of us had to work 72 hour work weeks. When you're working that hard, you're working to get it done, not to learn.

Let me reach out to you from experience.

Don't get loans unless you are absolutely positive you can pay them back, I am fully aware of the trouble that follows, and wouldn't wish it on anyone. At the very least, don't try to go through all four years in a straight shot on loans, things will stack up before you realize or fully prepare.

Treat class as an absolute necessity, more than a job, only don't go to class if your health is at risk.



I went to Ringling for 2.5 years, and I wish I'd followed the advice I just gave you.

loans scare the absolute shit out of me. i was so gung-ho about going to calarts at one point then the realization that it would literally put me 100k in debt after 4 years scared me right out of that idea!

i know i wouldnt be able to pay them back either. my whole family is low income, and not to mention even tho im 21 years old, because im a dependent they would have to co sign... which means if i was shitty about paying them, it'd tank my parents credit too :(

so i really want to be able to find a college that wont ruin me financially, but i still feel comfortable with ya know

Unfortunately, the only good schools will cost you a lot. My best advice, if you want to go so badly, is to go one year and then take a year off. Repeat until finished.

On your off years you can focus on getting a job and making money to pay back loans and prepare you for the next year's worth of supplies and rent.

It takes longer and the friends you make will finish before you, but ultimately, you'll be more financially stable.

Emily Carr University, Vancouver BC

from my understanding my friend who goes there came from san jose and only paid $4000 a semester as an international student.

but uh, east coast wise, probably the most accredited commercial animation/illustration school in canada is Sheridan.

i live in the USA, and i've always had an eye on sheridan because of their animation program...

so i guess my next question is how possible is it for an international student to go to sheridan, does american financial aid cover it do you know?

gah, as an international student their tuition hikes up to 20k usd :S

Yeah, sheridan is a private school. But private schools give out more grants and scholorships than public ones.

community college art program
because we have no money
and every time i see anyone going to a a vancy college, it tears me up >:C

Pratt Institute.

The thing with Pratt is, it boasts hiring professionals in the field to teach students, and it does! but professionals are not always teachers. I had some real gems and some ...disturbing lessons. Even with two scholarships and one loan, expensive.

If anything, the perk of Pratt is it places you in a prime location to plug yourself, if you come in with the business sense to know how.

I go to Bowie State University which is in Bowie, Maryland which has a pretty decent VCDMA (visual communications and Digital media) program. But its an HBCU so it might not be something you'll be interested in.

Nova Scotia is inexpensive.

But I want to attend Ringling, which is in Sarasota, Florida.

I'm in Animation at Sheridan College in Canada, I'd highly recommend it. They have Illustration there too.

well as u know I went to northwest college of art in WASHINGTON and it was worthless for animation/illustration stuff basically so HEH

But as far as money goes... no matter what school you're going to, it's almost inevitable that you're going to have to take out some loans. The only way to really minimize this without winnin the lottery or saving up for 40 years is to grind your assHOLE into a fine dust by working day & night trying to win scholarship prizes and stuff. Some colleges offer better ones than others, some even offer full rides etc etc u know.

AND I'm sitting here paying 350 dolars a month (which is actually MORE than my monthly minimum which is good) to pay off 40k in debt, and honestly it's not as scary as it sounds. In my case I have a place to live which keeps me from the burden of rent, and there's always the option to defer loans interest free once you're out of college as well, so it's really not some impossible thing to deal with. As long as you stay conscious about what you're doing, it's really easy to manage, even if it's intimidating. And there are always financial aid people working at the schools to tell you exactly what needs to be done and when, etc. so there are people to explain & help who actually do that for a living so it's comforting.

And I hate to argue with Kyle but I feel like doing one year at a time and paying it off is actually a lot harder than doing it all at once because who can guarantee that you'll be able to get a good-paying job + place to live + pay all that money back in a year y'know. Plus a lot of colleges won't let you get a degree unless you go through it all at once, that's how mine was at least. I'm sure some of the bigger ones are probably less stupid about it but who knows.

ANYWAY I'm sick of looking at these furry banners underneath the comment box so I'M DONE feel free 2 talk to me about college stuff anytime or bitch to me about it HEH

I go to the same school Amb0rg went to, Northwest College of Art, Washington state.
From my experience (being a senior now), they have half really fucking kickass profs and half fucking horrid ones, and as much as I enjoy college, it made me realize I DONT NEED COLLEGE. I've learned stuff, definitely, but nothing crazy that I couldn't have learned on my own. Access to mostly mediocre resources, CLASS FEES UP THE BUTT ON TOP OF TUITION (this fucking drives me mad), majors that don't really tie into what you want to do (which they changed recently but it didn't effect my class >8U), half covering things and then reteaching you the same shit instead of going deeper into it, really, it's a nice school but there's a lot of problems. Yeap.

Man, you live in the US.
Get grants & scholarships. You people give them out for EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN. Seriously.
Also, loans are scary, but good schools are expensive; cheap schools are cheap for a reason.

I go to VCU. The program here is pretty darn good (#4 in the country!) and the price is a lot better than traditional art schools.
It's ridiculously good for instaters. :D