College Woes

[nakirush]

Hey CA Forum Goers,

It's time for me to goto college, or at least get ready to apply. I've been home-schooled my entire life, and after graduating I had no plans to further my education. I'm now twenty years old and I'm suddenly realizing how difficult it is to get a good job without a degree. Here's my dilemma: I have no idea how I'm going to afford college, or where to start.

My goal is to work in the game industry. I already have a year of industry experience under my belt (a non-paying world builder position at Simutronics) and I'm a decent artist. However, I'm a self-taught artist and I think I've reached my limits. You can see some of my art at www.jameshaskin.com/gallery.html (http://www.jameshaskin.com/gallery.html).

I started looking into colleges. Damn, are they expensive! How am I supposed to pay for this? Student loans, FAFSA, scholarships? Well, I don't want to be in debt for the next twenty years; I can't figure out if I'm supposed to apply for college and then FAFSA or the other way around; and I haven't a clue of where to find scholarships.

And finally, are there any art programs you'd recommend? Right now I'm looking at the BAGD at DigiPen in Redmond, Washington. I'm open to suggestions, though.

Thanks for your time and sorry for the wall of text.

-James

[PinkPrincess]

Filling out the FAFSA is the first step toward any sort of financial aid, fortunately it is free to file. You will have to specify which schools you want the information sent to. Some schools may have additional requirements, i.e., I had to fill out a "Profile" for RISD, which carried a filing fee.

There are many scholarship resources, many can be found online (such as fastweb.com). You should also contact your schools of interest for a listing of their own foundation scholarships, and get in touch with each school's financial aid department for any questions or concerns you have.

Even very pricey schools can become affordable with financial aid, but you won't find out what you can get until you apply. I have been told that art schools generally only award "need-based" aid, so you will have to be proactive in seeking scholarships. If you have extenuating financial hardship, you may want to include a written letter with your financial aid applications, explaining your circumstances.

[Lizzybeth]

applying to college and filling out your fafsa are two totally different processes.

You'll probably want to apply to college first as most deadlines start coming up in December-March.

The fafsa application goes online for 2009 in January and most schools have a priority deadline for financial aid in early March, so fill that out before then so the schools can determine what financial aid you qualify for.

For financial aid, of course scholarships are the best. Start looking for them now because some have deadlines soon while others have their deadlines nearly a year from now, you've just got to keep checking with them. Schools themselves usually don't pay your way with scholarships and only cover a fraction of the cost and other scholarships are there and they help. Most people end up having to take out a boatload of loans. Also, staying in state usually can help you get more aid as most states have aid programs for people who stay within the state to study.

As for programs for game design, I don't know of any solid ones other than Ringling's game major that recently split off from computer animation. And of course I've heard of Digipen, but I really don't know much about them. When looking for schools though make sure that they keep a strong foundation in art, because that's the biggest thing you'll be going there to learn.

[Storyboard Dave]

One thing I would do if I were you is definitely contact the Financial Aid people at the schools you're thinking about attending. They know the ropes and tricks of the trade. I'm sure they've heard all sorts of stories and know how much of a financial burden their respective places can be. I'm sure that through them, they can walk you through all of the federal, state, and other private grants & scholarships that their individual schools can offer. After all it's their job to get you INTO their program- not to keep you out.

And try not to look at the hard at the amount you're going to be taking out. My real estate lady years ago gave me that advice when I bought my house; I was shocked at the amount but she told me to look at being able to make the payments back monthly. It's much more of a reasonable stretch then. And wouldn't you know it? I'm nearly done paying it all off.

It's an investment in you that will pay off dividends in the long run.

Good luck.