TOP 100 Unfunded MFA Studio Art Programs in USA, 2015
by rank and region
EAST $$-expensive
$$#1 Yale University New Haven, CT, 2yr./ $36K+/yr, 2yr., fuggedaboutit, unless you get outside funding to cover this $72K price tag. Add living expenses of $18K bare bones per year= $100K debt for 2 years. Artistic Suicide! Yale doesn't get you that far--I've seen where many Yale grads end up in New York 10 years after grad school. Its a financial nightmare. You need a trust fund for this. But please even if you have a trust fund, its still ok to boycott Yale and change the tides. A couple lucky folks get 50% funding here.
$$#2 Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI, 2yr./ $36K+/yr, some 50% scholarships, 2yr., fuggedaboutit
$$#4 Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA, (some TA's get full tuition waiver, some 70% funding. Some 0%. Totally depends. Contact individual department. The head of Sculpture told me they definitely have some full funding spots with a TA, I was unclear if you get a stipend or not. 3% acceptance rate.) 2 year program
$$#7 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 2yr./ $34K/yr, some 50% funding, 2yr.
$$#7 Maryland Institute College of Art Baltimore, MD 2yr./ $36K+ year, some 25-50% funding, 2yr., Really fuggedaboutit!!! and your in Baltimore wishing you lived in New York.
$$#10 Columbia University New York, NY 2yr./$40K yr, some 50% funding for work-study 10-20 hours a week, 2yr.. Perhaps this could be worth it if you are lauched into a succesful career in Chelsea. But out of the 20 grads every year 1 makes it to this level. The rest are gasping for air in $80K of debt.
$$#13 Temple University Philadelphia, PA. 2yr. $36K yr out-of-state, $26K yr/in-state. (Painting and Drawing can get full tuition waiver and TA for 2 years. Sculpture gets 50% funding. Contact the individual departments for funding. You need a car in Philly. A few people scrap by on bikes and bus.) 2yr program.
$$#13 Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 2yr., $50K/yr, some 50% scholarships available. fuggedaboutit. Rippp Offf!
$$#13 CUNY—Hunter College New York, NY, 3yr., $15,615.70/yr out-of-state, $8,465.70 in-state, no scholarships available. 2-3yr., the CUNY schools are slightly less expensive though overall. I think you can get it down to $25K for the whole 3 yr. degree if you are in-state. but living in New York makes it all meaningless when your half-room in Harlem costs $1000/month. If you have family in New York to live with, Hunter could possibly be worth it.
$$#18 School of Visual Arts New York, NY. 2yr./ $36K per year. 2yr.. Robbery at knifepoint., some 25% funding.
$$#22 Massachusetts College of Art Boston, MA (I heard of 8k/yr Scholarship and GA/TA options with 4k/yr stipend not sure how much this 12K covers the entire tuition cost though. Its probably 50%ish)
$$#27 Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY 2yr./$36K per year. Highway robbery. Prepare for a career of Art Administration to pay off your loans. Or marry a lawyer fast.
$$#36 New School—Parsons School of Design New York, NY ($60K+/yr, yes I said $60K a year!). 2yr.
$$#45 New York University -New York, NY 2yr./$36K+ per year. 2yr., fuggedaboutit. This is not worth it. You're being robbed.
$$#45 Syracuse University , Syracuse, NY (60-80% tuition waver)
$$53 University of the Arts Philadelphia, PA (not to be confused with "University of Pennsylvania" also in Philly. This is a private school and a huge money pit for aspiring artists)
$$#72 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts , Philadelphia, PA (definitely expensive $38K/yr. Some get 50% tuition reduction. )
$$#93New York Studio School New York, NY (probably expensive)
$#93CUNY—Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY (up to 35K-ish for the 3 year program) the CUNY schools are slightly less expensive though overall. I think you can get it down to $25K for the whole 3 yr. degree if you are in-state.
$#93CUNY—City College New York, NY (up to 35K for the 3 yr. program)
WEST $$-expensive
$$#6 California Institute of the Arts Valencia, CA, 2yr., $37,684/yr., 2yr, Please stop stealing money from your Dad if he pays this tuition bill for you. That is not right!!! If you're spouse is a lawyer, its ok. Some get 25-50% tuition reduction.
$$#11 California College of the Arts San Francisco, CA. Good Lord that's a lot of money. Boycott this place!
$$#18 Art Center College of Design Pasadena, CA, 2yr., $18,772 per year.
$$#27 Otis College of Art and Design Los Angeles, CA
$$#27 San Francisco Art Institute- San Francisco, CA($37K/yr. some get 50% tuition reduction.)
$$#36 University of Southern California -Los Angeles, CA, Roski School of Art ( Read about the grad walkout in 2014 because of promised funding being cut!! Awesome!!! Beware of this place seeming like it gives funding.)
$$#82University of California—Santa Cruz (MFA only in New Media/Digital, Heard of meager funding here. 50%-ish, not great.)
MIDWEST $$-Expensive
$$#2 School of the Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, IL (one full ride per year, others $40K/yr.). Please don't freeze your ass off for 2 years and come out with $80K of debt like my friend did who turned down a $20K/yr stipend at Rutgers for SAIC.
$$13 Washington University in St. Louis Saint Louis, MO (up to 75% of tuition covered, to $5-10K/yr.so not that expensive if you get a fellowship, but by no means free with a stipend)
$$#36 Minneapolis College of Art and Design
$$#45 Herron School of Art & Design Indianapolis, IN
$$53 University of Chicago --Chicago, IL (up to 75% tuition covered, could be free soon as I heard this school is getting lots of funding)
$$#72 Cleveland Institute of Art Cleveland, OH
$$#82Columbus College of Art and Design Columbus, OH. Don't pay it!!!
$$#93College for Creative Studies Detroit, MI
SOUTH $$ expensive
$$#93 Memphis College of Art Memphis, TN.
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EAST? I don't know if these offer funding
?#27 Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY (my guess is that this is expensive and private)
?#36 Tufts University - School of the Museum of Fine Arts—Boston, MA (likely expensive private school)
?#45 Purchase College—SUNY ,Purchase, NY (could go either way, sometimes these SUNY's have funding)
?#45University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA (could go either way in Philly, perhaps a few grads get free + stipend, and some pay 30K year, you never know on these)
?#53 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute -Troy, NY (no idea)
?#72Stony Brook University—SUNY Stony Brook, NY (I thought I heard its free with stipends but not sure)
?#72University at Buffalo—SUNY Buffalo, NY (I thought I heard its free with stipends but not sure)
?#82George Mason University Fairfax, VA (not sure)
?#82SUNY—New Paltz, NY (could go either way)
?#93University of Connecticut Storrs, CT
?#93Edinboro University of Pennsylvania Edinboro, PA
?#93James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA
WEST-? I don't know
?#36 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ, 3yr. (website unclear)
?#53 University of Colorado—Boulder, CO (not sure, could be free for some)
?#53 University of New Mexico -Albuquerque, NM (not sure, could be free for some)
?#62 Claremont Graduate University Claremont, CA
?#72 San Diego State University San Diego, CA (these CA state schools are sometimes free, other times very expensive)
?#82California State University—Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
?#82 Mills College Oakland, CA ( I thought I heard of 50% funding here)
?#82San Jose State University San Jose, CA (don't know)
?#93University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT (probably free with stipend, but unconfirmed)
?#93Washington State University Pullman, WA (probably free in Washington State, but unconfirmed)
?#93San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA (sometimes these CA schools are funded, some not, It's a crap shoot)
?#93California State University—Long Beach, CA (sometimes these CA schools are funded, some not, It's a crap shoot)
MIDWEST ? I don't know
?#18 University of Wisconsin—Madison Madison, WI (very likely free with stipend because its a State University in Mid-west, but I don't know)
?#22 University of Texas—Austin Austin, TX (website was unclear made me think they don't have full funding)
?#45 University of Minnesota—Twin Cities , Minneapolis, MN (very likely free with stipend because its a State University in Mid-west)
?#53 Columbia College -Chicago, IL
?#62 University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH
?#62 University of Nebraska—Lincoln, NE (very likely free with stipend because its a State University in Mid-west)
?#62 University of North Texas Denton, TX
?#62 University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, WI (very likely free with stipend because its a State University in Mid-west)
?#82 Kent State University Kent, OH
?#93University of Kentucky Lexington, KY (very likely free with stipend because its a State University in Mid-west)
?#93 Miami University -Oxford, OH (I don't know what the hell Miami University is doing in Ohio)
?#93Montana State University Bozeman, MT (very likely free with stipend because its a State University in Mid-west)
?#82Northern Illinois University DeKalb, IL (very likely free with stipend because its a State University in Mid-west)
Please email me with updates and corrections!!!