frugalartist

Ah! One more thing. I am not saying only go to school if its for free. Everyone has to determine a strategy that is right for him/her.

I don't expect what I have to say to bode well with people. But living off debt for the rest of your life will impair the quality of your life. I say Living off debt, which is different than paying it off. And this is an important distinction. This is what LIVING OFF DEBT looks like: I'm 35. My reality is much different than someone who is 25. If I went to say SFAI, then my debt until I turn 65 would be over $600 per month. That's bank. Why? Because the credits accrue interest. Here are the figures: Loan Balance: $100,000.00 Adjusted Loan Balance: $100,000.00 Loan Interest Rate: 6.80% Loan Fees: 0.00% Loan Term: 30 years Minimum Payment: $200.00 Monthly Loan Payment: $651.93 Number of Payments: 360 Cumulative Payments: $234,689.16 Total Interest Paid: $134,689.16 So for someone like me the question becomes this: Is 2 years of my life worth $650 for the next 360 months? Now, PAYING OFF DEBT for the sake of this illustration is different. Say you can afford to pay off much more. You get that debt down and out of your life quickly. The post graduate "quality of life" experience increases enormously. Also, this may seem contradictory, but I believe that money should not get in the way of life experiences. It's how you arrive to the experience. For example, there are some great residency programs out there that one can participate in for free if you apply and get the award. People you meet at these places can really contribute to your development, not to mention the quality of the connections. Anyway, I am a HUGE advocate for school. Go back! GO Go GO! I'm just saying, find the right program, take the time to cultivate. Sending applications out to 12 or 15 schools to up your chances of getting in is like saying... the more dates I go out on the more chances I will have to find someone who wants to take me in for a relationship. Is it about getting just anyone? Or is it about finding the right connection?

also--i turned down SFAI...because what kind of risks can i take as an artist while in school if i have to worry about 100K in debt afterwards.

if you have to take on a lot of debt to go to school then you cant afford to go to grad school. the more willing you are to go into debt for school...the more acceptable outrageous tuition fees for future generations to come are. stop the insanity. accept what you cannot afford. if going into enormous debt is the only way you can make your dreams come true then you are going about your dream in an illogical way. your making excuses. even at yale...its not some ticket to fame or teaching once you've gotten out of there. i know this for a fact as i have talked to people with secure jobs in the academic art world. things are changing. art has become decentralized and less and less professors are being hired to fill the shoes of those retired. if you can't get decent funding (and i mean awards) then 1. you need to cultivate relationships better or 2. you need to become a better artist or 3. you need to wait. invest that money you dont have back into your work making yourself a better artist. reach out online to people you admire. i have met some great people that way. i actually did get full funding for my degree plus a TA experience and a stipend. i worked my butt off for it. i visited the school twice and was wait listed! there were only six spots. so i kept in touch. i got in everywhere i applied and used the knowledge (and subsequent awards) to put a gentle fire under the butts of the school that ultimately accepted me. honestly i see people apply to 12 schools. that's ridiculous. that's about $1000 of material you could be using to buy arty supplies. focus on 4 schools because you need to be able to give it your all and spend your time with them in order to get a good deal.

Is it the low res program?

UMass MassArt PAFA Stumped.

it sucks that my posting looked a bit mangled. its looks so perfect in the document I've been working on for hours. if anyone actually wants to see it...just give me your email address and I'll send it to you.

This is such a hard choice! I went and devised a way of evaluating each program based on factor I think are important. Then I rated each factor on a scale between -3 and 3 (-3 be abhorrent, 0 being neutral and 3 being excellent). then I tallied up the values to see what was the best choice for me. I'm not completely sold on it but its given me a way to look at things. I doubled some values like facilities and growth because those particular aspects are really important to me. I'm wavering on the finance aspect, but the overall cost category includes tuition, fees, art supplies and supplemental things. In other words, its all inclusive. School 1 Value School 2 Value School 3 Value years 2 3 2 3 3 2 TA NO -1 some 1 YES 2 overall Cost 62K -2 52K -1 15.5K 3 visiting artists 3 2 -1 residency aspect 3 0 0 efficiency/facilities* -2 6 6 future contacts 3 2 1 type of growth* mentors 6 4 -2 location 3 3 3 curriculum flex. 1 core plus free 2 core-university wide 3 programs desire for me 2 3 0 community connection low -1 daily 3 daily 1 quality of faculty 3 1 -2 sustainability 3 1 -1 TOTAL VALUE 27 30 15