Very Odd Position

[Julie G]

I'm currently at Syracuse, but I don't know whether I want to stay here or not. I have about 25K debt per year here, so I hope you can see part of my motivation. I want to be an animator and am looking for a smaller bill, hopefully with some good programs. However, the odd position comes from the fact that I have better grades than art pieces. I'd currently attribute that to ignorance (I'm just attending my first demanding art classes this year which I love) and the fact that, well, I am smart and studious. I graduated with a 4.7 (I think) on a 4 scale and I got 690 reading, 740 writing, and 800 math on my SAT. I applied to SCAD last year and got a pretty hefty scholarship (20K) so I was wondering if people knew other places that would have academic money (or a low tuition) even for a transfer. Slight preference for the Chicago area because I miss my home and cat. Thanks for all the help!

[thesinfulsaint]

I'm not sure if there are a whole lot of animation schools out there that are cheaper than 25k a year. I'm a first year animation student at Ringling, and I absolutely love it. However, the bill here is somewhere around 40k per year (thats tuition, room+board, and various other fees together). I personally believe that it's worth it thus far, but everyone's situation is different. I'm not taking out 40k loans a year, and if I was, I wouldn't be here. I simply can't afford that.

If you're looking for something closer to the Chicago area, I guess I recommend Bowling Green State University's Digital Arts program. This past year there was a group of guys who won Siggraph's FJORG competition (check out the article on http://splinedoctors.blogspot.com), and one of them is now working at Dreamworks. I'm not sure if their success can be attributed to the program or if it's just because they're a trio of hard-working students, but nonetheless, your bill would be much lower by going there.

There are also one or two-year certificate programs out there for you to check out like Vancouver or Full Sail. I don't know much about either, but you could look into those. One or two years in a program as opposed to four will save you money (but then, you probably won't learn as much).

And, there's animationmentor.com, if that's something you're interested in. Their student work is great. It's still expensive, but I think it's under 20k per session.

Good luck. :) I hope you find what you're looking for!

[Julie G]

Thank you very much! Syracuse itself is about 50K all around, but just with scholarships, my money, my parents, etc, it's down to about 25K missing money. I am not so much a fan of that. I'll try to look into those schools and see how I like them.

[teddybearbones]

There were some representatives from Ringling at our Industry Night last June. They seemed rather nice.

If you're not opposed to Canada we have a couple of rather good schools. Sheridan (in Oakville just west of Toronto) is very well known and has a good reputation (at about $4k or $5k a year) with a large campus, and larger class sizes. They offer a degree at the end of their 4 year course.

Max the Mutt (downtown Toronto) is far less known and far smaller with a growing reputation. Tuition is more pricey (I believe $9k-$11k a year for international students), the building is small and class sizes are small. You get a Diploma upon completion of the 3 year course.

I'm in my third year at MtM right now, and enjoy it very much.

Some other schools in Ontario:
Seneca (3D Animation) in Toronto
Algonquin (classical) in Ottawa