gRAPHICaNATOMY

The Wall Street Journal, when comparing The White House’s college rankings site, finds that the schools with the highest median debt come from arts schools. The country’s highest median debt load upon graduation sits at $52,035; that startling figure comes from The Creative Center, a for-profit art college in Omaha, Nebraska. New York’s Manhattan School of Music comes in second with a median debt load of $47,000.

source: http://artfcity.com/2013/02/19/from-new-york-to-nebraska-art-schools-top-the-white-houses-debt-scorecard/


52k ub debt thanks to the Creative Center in Omaha Nebraska....
Let's take a look shall we?
http://creativecenter.edu/

Founded in 1993
"Our goal is to create great graphic designers".....
who may make $22k  a year in Nebraska as graphic designers.


hmmm....


Look if you want to be an artist there is a LOT to learn.
If you want to make a living at art there is even more to learn.

I'm not sure art schools are the best place to learn it anymore.
I'm not sure it's worth the huge debt.

What are the other options?
Public Libraries
Internet
local art centers, clubs and groups.
and of course the art galleries themselves.
I've explained some oprions for art education here:
http://samthor.blogspot.com/2011/12/so-i-wanna-go-to-art-school.html

Labels: art education, art schools, debt

So… some little number crunchers took a look at the average earnings  for certain degree holders in such areas as:
-Recent graduate employment
-Experienced graduate employment
-Recent graduate earnings
-Experienced graduate earnings
-Projected growth in total number of jobs, 2010–2020
…. and low and behold …. some areas make more money than others.
now this could mean many things but the article decided to interpret it to mean that some college majors are "worthless".
Source:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/04/23/the-13-most-useless-majors-from-philosophy-to-journalism.html#slide1

Of course you can also interpret the data in lots of other ways too:
Money does not equal happiness or all definitions of success.


or



Colleges have failed to prepare these students to fully succeed and reach their potential.

College may be one of the worst places to learn how to be an artist. It doesn't mean that Art is not worth learning about.... or it's not worth it to make art. It's kinda like the desert is the worst place to learn how to swim. College is an intellectual, creative desert to the potential artist. And better yet, this desert will set you back $30,000 to $50,000 in debt. You know how many art supplies you could buy with that?


I've addressed my thoughts in colleges and art schools here:
http://samthor.blogspot.com/2011/12/so-i-wanna-go-to-art-school.html

There is serious concerns over the current cost of higher education.
And i have to agree that with technology, the price should be coming down… not going up.
Is it really worth it to spend that much money, go into that much debt, and only get so much in return?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQpodOX4-7Q&feature=related

Labels: art education, art schools, mfa, schooling

The last kid who told me she wanted to go to college for art, i told her “don’t”.

I told her to go to the local art center and take studio classes for a hundred dollars instead of the university classes that cost thousands.
I told her to go to art shows and meet artists. To ask to visit their studio and watch them work for a day for free.
I told her to get a library and check out every book on art and anything else that caught her interest for free.
I told her to go on you tube and watch “how to” videos for free.

Sure this way requires a bit more hustle and self discipline…. but isn’t that the secret to succes ? Hustle and self discipline ensures success, not a piece of paper with a diploma printed on it. And if that piece of paper was important to her… she can print her own when she graduates.

Labels: art, art schools, education, mfa, schooling