OutWest

Though this sucks a pretty big chunk of #%@^, keep in mind that previously, out of the 20,500 potentially available every year in Stafford Loans, the portion of that that was Subsidized (i.e., the interest that was accruing was covered by the government) was 8,500. The "only" thing we are losing out on for this year (it may change the following year) is this interest coverage...while this sucks (and shows the awesome commitment this country has for helping out its citizens...), this loss is not a show stopper. Can you imagine if they got rid of ALL Staffrod loans??? Yikes...

Thanks tyson2 for the additions! Keep adding 'em in as any of you find out info. on other programs.

Note: Just to clarify, Ohio State and Ohio University are TWO separate schools, and they both have excellent funding And, it has been brought to my attention that sometimes VCU does not always give 70% funding, and I am going to add that it is safe to assume that just about ANY program is not going to guarantee the funding listed here, but that it is, for most schools, a very good possibility.

This is a list compiled by myself, with additions by the fine members of a couple 2012 MFA Forums, that will give next year's applicants a good idea as to what programs give the best funding. If you have any more additions, please feel free to add to! And, best of luck to all you futre MFA applicants. Much love from the 2012 crowd: By Region, in no particular order: West - UCSD (full ride + teaching stipend) - UC Irvine (I believe there is good funding here, but unsure of details) - UCLA (both DMA and the regular arts program give up to 100+% funding with teaching) - USC (many admits get full tuition funding) - UCSB (full finding + excellent stipend and teaching) - Stanford (full ride + excellent stipend and teaching) - UC Berkeley (full ride tuition for instate peeps, out of staters pay difference) - Mills (not always, but I have heard of 50+% funding here) - UC Davis (50-70% funding) - UOregon (full ride + teaching stipend) - UW (full ride) - ASU (Arizona State) (full ride) + (50% tuition + Merit Scholarsihps: for International Students) Midwest - UIowa (I believe there is full funding avail here) - Indiana (full ride, I believe) - UChicago (75% tuition funding + teaching stipend) - KEEP an eye on this program. They are dumping a TON of money into the arts here (esp. with their fabulous Logan Arts Center. A "hidden gem" of a program) - UI-C (I have heard of good funding here) - Northwestern (full ride + excellent stipend and teaching) - SAIC (I hear of one full ride and one half ride per department) - SIUC (Southern Illinois) (full ride + stipend) - UMichigan (full ride, first year travel funding, free computer, + stipend) - Ohio (both state and university) (full rides + stipend to both universities) (I'm sure there are others in the M-W…) South - UGA (Georgia) (excellent funding) - LSU (Louisiana) (excellent funding) - UF (Florida) (full funding) - UTex-Austin (50% or more funding, I have heard of) - Georgia Tech (MS in Digital Media is a full ride) East - Alfred (full ride + stipend) - RPI / iEAR (half the admits get full finding) - Carnegie-Mellon (70+% funding) - RISD (Pres. Scholarships range 40K, 20K and 10K, but most pay) - Rutgers (heard of full funding) - SUNY Buffalo (heard of good-to-full funding here) - Tyler/Temple (sometimes they do offer full funding + stipend to some first year MFAs, but 2nd yr seems to get best funding) - SFMA (has been known to dish out some decent money, but not all the time) - Yale (if you are low income, along with your parents (regardless of your age, they ask for your parent's financials), you can qualify for excellent funding. If not, you will pay) - MIT / ACT (I have heard of around 50% funding) - Univ of Maryland (full ride + teaching stipend) - VCU (70+% funding) - Cornell (full ride + teaching stipend) - MICA (25-50% tuition for some) - Bard (heard of there being up to 50% funding) - Montclair State (heard of excellent funding here) - Keep an eye out for Dartmouth doing a production orientated "Digital Studies" Masters in the future, and if it is anything like their outstanding "Digital Musics", it'll be a full ride +)

Just a comment on housing in the Bay area: If you don't mind taking the time to get up early (if needed to catch a class), and come home before midnight (when BART stops service) you should consider living in the Berkeley Co-ops...they are beautiful buildings and the rent is CHEAP (food included in price!)...and, YES, people from other schools are allowed to rent/be a part of the co-ops. If I were attending one of the schools in the SF/Berkeley/Oakland areas, I'd live there and deal with the minor commute issues. Check it out if interested: http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/

That housing is def. expensive for single peeps, but, if you guys are looking for a roomie, let me know which place you are interested in! Hit me on here via message...I believe we have chatted before.

Yes, I did, and I am in-state. I believe out of state (and/or International) is double the "Univ Fee" (i.e., tuition). which is 15K/yr... ...since tuition is about 15K/yr, total tuition for in-state would be 30K instead of 20. And, even if the dept. still "only" covers the in-state portion for those out of state/International, paying 30K (if you do the degree in two years) for a UCLA MFA education is quite a steal.

Excellent idea. I will wait for anyone else to add to the list and then post it.

For all you peeps trolling this Forum in the future... Though I am sure I have missed some (and please, if you got an offer not listed here, or you know of another, please add to it), these are the programs I found to have the best funding. In NO particular order: West - UCSD (full ride + teaching stipend) - UC Irvine (I believe there is good funding here, but unsure of details) - UCLA (both DMA and the regular arts program give up to 100+% funding with teaching) - USC (many admits get full tuition funding) - UCSB (full finding + excellent stipend and teaching) - Stanford (full ride + excellent stipend and teaching) - UC Berkeley (full ride tuition) - Mills (not always, but I have heard of 50+% funding here) - UC Davis (50-70% funding) - UOregon (full ride + teaching stipend) - UW (full ride) Midwest / South - UTex-Austin (50% or more funding, I have heard of) - Georgia Tech (MS in Digital Media is a full ride) - UIowa (I believe there is full funding avail here) - Indiana (full ride, I believe) - UChicago (75% tuition funding + teaching stipend) - KEEP an eye on this program. They are dumping a TON of money into the arts here (esp. with their fabulous Logan Arts Center. A "hidden gem" of a program) - UI-C (I have heard of good funding here) - Northwestern (full ride + excellent stipend and teaching) - SAIC (I hear of one full ride and one half ride per department) - UMichigan (full ride, first year travel funding, free computer, + stipend) - Ohio (full ride) (I'm sure there are others in the M-W…) East - Alfred (for Elec. Arts, I know they offer full ride + stipend) - RPI / iEAR (half the admits get full finding) - Carnegie-Mellon (70+% funding) - RISD (Pres. Scholarships range 40K, 20K and 10K, but most pay) - Rutgers (heard of 50+% funding) - SUNY Buffalo (heard of good funding here) - SFMA (has been known to dish out some decent money, but not all the time) - Yale (if you are low income, along with your parents (regardless of your age, they ask for your parent's financials), you can qualify for excellent funding. If not, you will pay) - MIT / ACT (I have heard of around 50% funding) - Univ of Maryland (full ride + teaching stipend) - VCU (70+% funding) - Cornell (full ride + teaching stipend) - MICA (25-50% tuition for some) - Bard (heard of there being up to 50% funding) - Keep an eye out for Dartmouth doing a production orientated "Digital Studies" Masters in the future, and if it is anything like their outstanding "Digital Musics", it'll be a full ride +)

For all you peeps trolling this Forum in the future... Though I am sure I have missed some (and please, if you got an offer not listed here, or you know of another, please add to it), these are the programs I found to have the best funding. In NO particular order: West - UCSD (full ride + teaching stipend) - UCSB (full finding + excellent stipend and teaching) - Stanford (full ride + excellent stipend and teaching) - UOregon (full ride + teaching stipend) Midwest / South - Indiana (full ride, I believe) - UI-C (I have heard of good funding here) - Northwestern (full ride + excellent stipend and teaching) - UMichigan (full ride, first year travel funding, free computer, + stipend) (I'm sure there are others in the M-W…) East - Alfred (for Elec. Arts, I know they offer full ride + stipend) - SUNY Buffalo (heard of good funding here) - SFMA (has been known to dish out some decent money, but not all the time) - Univ of Maryland (full ride + teaching stipend) - Cornell (full ride + teaching stipend) - Keep an eye out for Dartmouth doing a production orientated "Digital Studies" Masters in the future, and if it is anything like their outstanding "Digital Musics", it'll be a full ride +)

Right on man! Congrats! Glad to hear you got in! I know you were stressing about it for a long time... All the best to you as well. Peace.

Yay kazooo! Hahahaha! Happy faces all around :)

Chicago seems fantastic! I interviewed at Univ of Chicago and the Prof's loved the city and were consistantly showing in galleries there (the city has a very vibrant scene)...I think it's right behind LA and NYC and arguably on par with San Fran, etc. Plus, there's a number of unviersities around for teaching opportunities, along with the hopes of showing work around town.

caus, what did you think of Davis??? It seems like an excellent program and I believe it has good funding (70%+), but Davis is out in the sticks...although...San Fran is only about an hour away Good luck with your decision!

Well, quite honestly, I'd say Berlin (for what's hot in the Euro sphere), along with Brazil (Sao Paulo) and China (Shanghai) are the up and coming intellectual centers that I personally would consider "hotter" than even LA and NYC...the overall art scene seems (through the lens of a couple of my friends that are young guns pusing their work in the US and overseas, and professor friends of mine) much more international due to the obvious situation of the internet. And, hot spots in the US, such as LA's "Tiny Creatures" (just one major example), with their flash-in-the-pan explosion and demise, are somewhat fleeting and transitory...so, sure, NYC and LA are the place to be in the US, but if you really want to live in a city that has some parallels to what it might have been like in turn of the century NYC in the 1900's, I'd learn Portuguese and/or Mandarin.

Hi guys, looks like mostly familiar faces here Yeah, as per my Signature, I sent my Letter of Intent off to UCLA about two weeks ago, so I'm done. I'll post on here (and in the Freak Out Forum) a list of programs for people of the future who troll these Forums of all the well-funded programs I found through the whole nation... ...that beign said, I have to disagree with "kodiak...", above, and say go for the best program that ALSO has the best funding you can get. CalArts is insanely expensive and NO program is worth 100+K, period. You have to balance the two things (coolness, and your financial future). I think "miyamoto's" decision to opt for more financially secure programs is wise. Plus, being near NYC will do him fine (though, I wish I would have heard he was going to Alfred!) Point being, as I've harped on before, it's an artist's willingness to make his/her own connections and push their own art that will get them noticed...sure, there's excellent people at the top flight schools, but plenty of people graduate from CalArts (and Yale, and UCLA, and MICA, and...) and go nowhere. Best of luck and much love to you all! It's been a great Forum around here

Got the offical Rejctions from Berkeley and Mills, finally...struck OUT with all the Bay Area schools I applied to. Good to hear peeps are getting more acceptances lately! Best of luck this week y'all.

Sorry to hear Where are you leaning on going? I seem to remember you had some awesome admits!

Yeah, but their funding (they said in the Open House) was not a sure thing for everyone, so I'm a little sketchy on how much they ultimately offer...did you apply to UCLA? I believe they give the best funding in LA (and, it's too bad places like CalArts don't)... Hmmm, the students I met were not all "super stars" yet by any stretch (though, of course, they were talented)...I believe one grad of the program did a Whitney fairly recently, they said, but I didn't hear aobut a current student, though I'll take your word for it! I DID hear about one person that was on that "Next Big Artist" show and they were saying they were getting annoyed by the TV crews being constantly around...that would bug me too if I were trying to make work... Anwyay, I don't mean to be dismissive of the program, it's solid, but perhpas a bit on the overrated side...

miyamoto81, on 23 March 2012 - 06:21 PM, said: Snail mail rejection from USC. *sigh* Apparently I was not one of the mythological 8.... You know, I'm still trying to rack my brain as to why that program gets so much attention...sure, it's in LA...sure, it has a couple excellent Profs...but there are a ton of schools out there that have similar people and get 1/10th the love...I visited the Open House, and people seemed to talk about how much the Pixie Dust flowed through the air around there, but, quite frankly, I thought the program was 'meh'...at least for an interdisciplinary person such as myself...

Thanks kazoo, you're a sweetheart as always And, I am jealous of your Alps skiing experience...I am a hard core snowboarder and one of my dreams is to ride Saas-Fee for, oh, a month straight

Plus, let's not forget that even if one gets loans (and, personally, I have many many grand in those already for undergrad), you're still paying interest on those bad boys about 6-some percent (assuming that's a non-variable rate)...so, that 80K ends up costing you 4,800 a YEAR that keeps getting added on to the total loans... :(

Ha, yeah...I went to the Open House (but I didn't apply) and they were saying that the applicant pool was over 500, so interesting they said 400... Yes, I believe it was snail mail

For those waiting on USC, a friend got his rejection letter today

Thanks Tysonr2!! Best of luck with the NYU interview...and yeah, if you end up applying again, seriously consider UChicago for sure. I'm a huge fan.