Methods of affording Ateliers?

[Mr Man]

Hello fellow Conceptartians,

Ive been giving these ateliers a lot of thought and It would be my absolute dream to attend one of these art programs. It would be nice to add another set of strings to my bow before I go out into the real world. However I keep hitting the same wall which stops me dead in my tracks. How..do I afford it?

Roughly £50,000 (pounds sterling) is needed for a 3 year program at your average atelier.
I understand that I should do anything to follow my dream, but at this moment in time I Just don't know how to do it. So far I have £4,000 in the kitty to contribute. Getting together £46,000 just seems unrealistic. I have considered the option of getting a loan, but surely with figures that high the interest would overtake you? I don't want my parents to suddenly have a great big loan dropped onto their shoulders because of a foolish gamble, it's not fair to do that.

So, I'm asking you guys for some advice. How have you all managed to scrape together this moolah? what methods have I overlooked or missed out?
It must be possible to do this if everyone else is doing it.

Oh just so you know the Ateliers I am considering is Laafa or the Atelier in Florence.

A million thanks in advance :)

Rich

[jhofferle]

You could consider smaller chunks of time. Instead of trying to get the money for all three years at once, save enough to attend for one year. At least then, you'll have a year's worth of instruction to practice and reflect upon while scraping together the money for the next year.

[romance]

You might want to consider talking with a representative at your family's bank about a student loan, which are much more accommodating in this situation then a regular loan. I was in the exact same predicament you are in but managed to secure a student loan which allowed me to attend an atelier.

1 - Contact your bank, or preferably your parents/family's bank. If they are the same, then that's even better. The longer you have history with the bank, the better as well. Set up a meeting with your bank about the student loan. (I'd advise to avoid taking the meeting over the phone, the people you'll talk to play by the books and usually don't give a shit. A sit down is much more personal)

2 - Preparing for the meeting:
Talk with your family and see if they will co-sign the loan with you. If mom and pop won't, ask grandma, or that crazy, eccentric rich uncle. You'll have to provide the bank with proof that you and/or your family have the assets and income to cover the student loan, if for some reason you fail pay it off in time. Obviously, the more financially secure your family is, the better chance you have of securing the loan.
Pay off your debts. If you already have some outstanding debts and/or a student loan that is close to being paid off, pay it off! Seriously, if you have outstanding debts to the bank, this may seriously decrease, if not eliminate the chances you have of securing that student loan. Not only will you be increasing the chance of getting that loan by paying off your current debts, but you'll be showing the bank you deliver on commitments and you'll be getting rid of some of that burden off your back while you attend the atelier.
Gather all the information about the school as you can. The schools objective, your objective, instructor bios, instructor work, student work, success stories, course descriptions, class time-table, anything you can get your hands on to show the bank rep that when you finish at the school, you'll come out making money to pay them off. If the atelier has a website that contains most of that info, I'd recommend referring the bank rep to it. Also, even if the school is non-accredited and/or doesn't fit in the banks idea of an educational institution, try anyway. That's why your providing the information above.
Your cosigner will also need to provide information about their financial stability, ask the representative at the bank what information they'll need so you can come in prepared and look like a fella that's about to get a loan.
Figure out the exact amount you'll need from the bank over the course of your stay at the atelier. This includes tuition, rent, food, supplies, transportation, spending money, anything you can think of.

3. Go to the meeting with your potential cosigner, be honest and look desperate. You want to win the rep over, so win them over. You know what you want, so convince them they want it for you too. If you prepared properly for the meeting it should just be a matter of allowing the loan rep to look over all the info and decide whether or not the cosigner can cover the amount you need. A lot of banks will have yearly student loan limits which may or may not cover your annual loan needs, if that's the case, I'd recommend trying to come up with a compromise. If the atelier is 2-3 years, as opposed to most 4 year university degrees, I'd ask if it were possible to consolidate that university 4th year into the amount you'll be getting annually for the 2-3 year program. Basically, squeeze a 4 year loan into 2-3 years. I hope that makes sense.

4. Your loan rep has approved your loan application! or maybe not. If they have, it's not over yet, the loan rep may have approved the loan, but the bank hasn't. Your loan application still has to go up for approval to the big dogs at the bank. If the big dogs approve, obviously, you've got your money, if not, I'd recommend sitting down with the rep again and try to work it out so it does get approved. Maybe you'll need another cosigner if that crazy uncle is a little too crazy, or ask for less money from the bank and somehow come up with the difference on your own. If it was your loan rep who didn't approve the loan application, you might want to speak with someone else at the bank (another loan rep if they have one) or talk with another bank.

That's all I can think of for now, if I remember anything else, I'll add it later. Hope this helps, and good luck to you.

[Crush]

I'm actually at LAAFA right now and one thing to keep in mind is that it and the florence schools are VERY different things.

Thanks so much for that post romance, I think I'm gonna have to try for a student loan soon too, scary D:

[Ivory_Oasis]

Why not consider a cheaper school? 50k for 3 years seems like a lot...

The school I am going to now is 12k for a year... and that is still more expensive than if I went to college!

I think dedication and hard work are more important than the school you go to (though, good schools are still nice! just cheaper schools can still give you a good education).

[artfan217]

you can find a part time job and find a school that not very expensive .or put off you study plan . till you have the enough money to offord it . maybe it is paintful decision.

[Mr Man]

Thanks Romance for that info, I appreciate it a lot!

Ive had a chat with my folks and I have cleared up a few cobwebs.
Even with a student loan the interest will still be too much. 50k, 40k or even 20K is a lot of money to gamble with and I will probably never get out of dept.

You can do alot with that sort of money...like a alot! Even with 10k you can buy tonnes of books, dvds, watch these concept art live classes, all sorts!

I have spent 6 years learning most of what I know from this website reading books and just bloody drawing!
I have realized that I dont need a wallet burning class to get me where I want to be :)

Thanks again everyone for your help! :D

[boxcargirl]

I never paid for school other than a few semesters at a local college. While I know there are some really exceptional programs out there, I too was kind of held back from the cost and then I realized that there were other ways to get what I was looking to learn and experience.

Ask yourself this question: what will gain from it that will make it worthwhile?

And then, once you have a list of what you will gain from the school, brainstorm for other ways you can get the items on your list. IE: maybe you could volunteer to work for another established artist. ( and i really do mean "volunteer" - you won't get paid for your time, but maybe you will learn more that way?)

The only other thing you can do is to take out loans, but that's so hard for me to say to do while we are trying to pay off my hubby's $30k student loan - and the funny thing is he isn't even doing anything related to his major!!

I wish you the best of luck though, if you have a dream, you should follow it.

[grinn]

You may be overestimating how much time you need to spend actually inside the atelier.

At Watts Atelier (which is my school, and another school I think you should consider) classes are cheaper but shorter. The bottom line is that the best people work a lot at home in addition to the training they are receiving at the Atelier. At Watts if you took 7 classes it would work out to about $9k a year.

That is before housing and food and everything of course...but it's not really that bad...and 7 classes is really significant when you combine that with solid study at home.

I have known many students who took fewer classes though, and worked in local restaurants, coffee shops and bookstores to pay for them. In most cases ateliers will be significantly cheaper than an accredited school of art, and probably offer a higher caliber of training in drawing and painting.

If you are comparing one to your local community college yes, they will seem steep. But when you compare one to a major art school such as Art Center, RISD or SCAD...you will find they are incredibly incredibly cheap.

[kittens]

Thanks for the post! I've been considering attending LAAFA for a bit now, but I think I am just going to go with the sessions. Doing the Atelier program is so tempting, but adding up the 3 years it's about 50,000 like you said. What I've been realizing is that I will be able to get the information offered in atelier only classes elsewhere, and for less.

Community college sometimes gets a bad rep but the classes I've taken so far have been with great teachers and I have already learned a lot. And it seems they are expanding as well (despite budget cuts). One of my teachers tells me that he's going to be teaching a perspective only class next semester. They might not be being taught by famous teachers, but a lot of them have tons to offer.

This website....period. The streaming classes here are pretty awesome as well as the tutorials.

So anyways what I am planning to do is go to a state school and supplement with atelier sessions/workshops as well as whatever I can get my hands on here and elsewhere. It still is expensive to do these classes, I'm looking at about $1500-3000 for a session of 3+ classes that lasts usually around 7-12 weeks, but compare that to the Atelier or any other art school, the difference is pretty significant. I've added up (just an estimate) for the next 4 years I'm looking at about 35,000 just to give you an idea. That includes state school fees.

This money situation has been something that has been kinda lurking over me for about a year now, trying to decided what the heck I was gonna do and I think I've finally found a compromise, thought maybe it would help you!

[Polina]

Wow i feel fortunate. I am planning on going to Atelier in Seattle, WA and it would cost be only $7000 a year.
$14000 for two or $28000 for four years. Still quite expensive, but seems so much cheaper then what else is out there. I've been taking classes at Gage Academy of Art and i love school.
At least i can work part time to pay costs of the program, and summers to save up for it.