MFA programs in the USA with Excellent Funding (as of 2012)

[seeingeyeduck]

I haven't gotten an offer or anything but when I was speaking to a Davis prof he said that tuition was covered.

[evd]

Syracuse tuition for grad students is reduced significantly to those who get in, making it roughly 10K per year. Even that amount could easily be taken care of through fellowships/scholarships/loans/etc...

[seeingeyeduck]

Is funding a rare bird? I got a tuition waiver at one of my schools, but no stipend except for one semester of teaching in the second year. I've been adding up the costs of commuting and materials, and am a little deflated about how much this will actually cost. The work I plan to do involves some traveling and figuring out some new materials I'm not familiar with, so I'm a bit daunted.

 

Is it unrealistic to expect a stipend on top of a tuition waiver when it comes to art depts? I don't want to end up spending tens of thousands over two years, but I really still want to go to school and don't want to seem ungrateful by trying to ask for more. I know many people have to pay much more, but I really don't want to sacrifice my future ability to make work...

[01010101010101101010101010]

necessity is the mother of invention. have you considered grants to fund your materials? what are these new materials?

this is the land of plenty; you'd be surprised what can be had for free. for instance, recycling centers often have free paint. 

 

i don't know about stipends, but combing a department to find materials/funds seems pretty ordinary. if you want to go to this school you should probably just shoulder some of the cost. you'll always find a way to track down what you need. 

[seeingeyeduck]

Definitely but I'm not sure where to look. Does the dept itself usually have grants or do I have to look elsewhere? I looked at fellowships and scholarships at the school and the deadlines are either past or for first years. I don't have a good UG GPA anyway, so I'm not sure how that would go.

Will it be easier once I'm enrolled and have a few grad classes behind me?

I know that a now prof went got a tuition waiver (albeit at a different school) and then took out loans to make work, which is a little discouraging - if she couldn't even find grants... I've noticed that a lot of the local grants here go to pretty established mid career artists except for a small career development grant (but you're not allowed to use that for materials).

Edited March 3, 2014 by seeingeyeduck

[IWasaTeenApe]

Here's some info on Parsons from another post:

"For those who got accepted to Parsons. How much merit based scholarship did you receive?

Apparently it goes up to 65%

Last year someone got 75%

But of course that's like very few people get a lot - they tend to dole out a little bit of money to many people in that program, so some people might get like 20% or less - but most people get something, I think"

 

I didn't really get any. All I got was approval for 10,000 a semester in loans and it barely covered my tuition. I had to take out an additional loan because I really couldn't afford the rest. 

[ezermeno23]

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 +)

to add though,  USC will cover the first year's tuition but not the second. So you'd be on your own for that.

[photochick]

ASU is not full ride. FASFA determines scholarship amount awarded.

Edited March 28, 2015 by photochick

[kxxx]

UCSC digital arts / new media MFA gives all admits a full ride plus TA stipend (guaranteed first year, second year contingent on obtaining a TAship yourself)

[KSuverkrubbe]

I'll just add to this the programs I got decent funding from

 

Syracuse University- 60% off tuition for most art graduate students (it may be all students) and 80% for a certain few incoming, and the possibility if you are at the 60% to be awarded the 80% in subsequent years. They did offer me 60% at first, then at the last minute offered me 80% .

 

PAFA- awarded 34,000 which will cover half of tuition for the program. They did raise it to $39,000.

 

Boston University- full tuition, not full ride (full ride is living expenses, supplies, basically total cost of attendance, full tuition is just the tuition ...I think that's the difference) . This helped me negotiate for more from the other two schools. 

 

Also keep in mind that B U 's College of Fine Art tuition is much cheaper than most schools and even other programs at Boston  at about $23,000 a year.

Edited March 29, 2015 by KSuverkrubbe