MFA - Paying for it

[thehamm99]

How does everyone intend on financing their MFA pursuits?

Loans?
Full ride?
Generous parents?
Savings?

100k seems like a lot to borrow. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the logic of it...

 

[ath579]

Loans and scholarship. Unfortunately more of the former.

 

[MrWolfDog]

Selling my body.

 

[wannabe13]

Pimping out MrWolfDog's body.

 

[thehamm99]

There are a ton of people, even on this board, who go through school, then struggle to find industry employment...let alone pay back 100k plus unsubsidized interest (plus whatever you owe from undergrad)...it gives me a lot of pause.

 

[ark]

Beg.

And posing as a policeman, and raiding wherever MrWolfDog is selling his body.

What I am not going to do: take a loan. I know what that would mean - work ****ty jobs for the decade after school. Exactly the kinds that I have quit to turn to cinema.

 

[MrWolfDog]

Ya'll be trippin'. MrWolfDog work by his own damn self.

More seriously on the topic at hand:

The financial element in all this is a depressing, but well-known part of the equation. If you're just now considering its relevance, you might take a moment to really reconsider your decision to go to grad school at all. That's not to say it's not daunting (it is), but it's a little late in the game to be looking for someone to talk you into or out of a decision.

Along those lines, if you're going to a graduate film school primarily to seek gainful, comfortable, full-time employment in the industry, then I'd argue that you're taking the wrong route towards the wrong gig. I say that based on personal and anecdotal experience, but I'm also relatively young and at the beginning of this road, so take my opinion however you want.

 

[thehamm99]

I'm a grown man, I don't look for anybody to talk me into or out of anything.

I said people struggle to find industry employment and you interpret that to mean I'd be hoping to come out of grad school with "comfortable, full-time employment"...there's about 3467449925 miles between those two circumstances.

 

[MrWolfDog]

First, congratulations on being a grown man. That's quite an accomplishment.

Second, this is a public forum, and my comments were a reaction to the topic at hand. I'll admit that it was your comments that I was reacting to, particularly phrases like "I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the logic of it" and "it gives me a lot of pause", but this is not the first time I've had these thoughts, and my comments did not find their genesis in yours. At this point in time, I would have said something very similar on any new topic regarding paying for an MFA program, given the fact that the topic is being presented to a group of people who, with a few exceptions, have already gone through the application processes and have likely been accepted/rejected. If the topic had been presented from the perspective of someone who is thinking about applying next year, I might not have expressed the same thoughts, but that wasn't the case.

Third, having said all that, I do apologize if I offended you. I did not intend for my comments to be a personal attack, but I can definitely see how you came to that conclusion. I should have been more sensitive to the different ways in which my comments might have been read.

Finally, while I do apologize if I offended you, I absolutely do NOT apologize for what I actually said. I stand by the points made in the paragraphs I wrote. If, after reading this, something in my previous comments still touches a nerve, then you might ask yourself why that is, instead of simply getting angry at me.

 

[thehamm99]

Sorry, but I don't do the "passive-aggressive" internet stuff (open with a sarcastic insult, follow with an apology for something else), so go engage somebody else with that.

You make some good points, but they tend to get lost in your quest to have everyone notice that you're the most clever guy in the room.

 

[MrWolfDog]

Passive aggressive would be me saying something nice that was actually a veiled insult, which isn't what I did. My sarcastic insult was an outright sarcastic insult, and I included it because you came across as being a bit of a petty ******* in your comment. My apology was a genuine apology, and I included it because I felt bad for coming across as an ******* in the first place.

I'm not sure what I said that makes it seem like I'm trying to have everyone notice that I'm clever, but okay. I made a joke in my first post and expressed opinions in the next two. If that's the definition of being attention-seeking, then, yeah, you got me. I'm a real attention *****.

EDIT: Censors. Bleh.

 

[TheRealSV]

Loans but I just found out Columbia College Chicago gives scholarships so I am going to apply to them for next term. Getting scholarships is a blessing because it is crazy expensive and being 100,000 in debt is scary especially because I have worked in the film industry for 10 years and still struggle to find paying gigs in Atlanta which has become number 3 in film / television production. So any school that offers scholarships is more appealing to me. I got waitlisted for AFI so maybe that's a blessing to save me money and seek other education at schools offering scholarships like Columbia College.

 

[ThisSiteAsksForTooMuchInfo]

thehamm99 -

Please, whatever you do, don't go 100k in debt for a degree that guarantees nothing. I think I have seen you on the screenwriting boards. If that is your interest, expand your search to dramatic writing schools. Look at the MFA lists by Seth Abramson. Not all of these schools teach screenwriting, but those that do also teach playwriting, fiction and poetry. All of those things can improve your writing for the screen. Additionally, there is a long respected history of playwrights becoming screenwriters.

In addition to the solid background, many of these schools offer support, ranging from fellowships to TA ships and other jobs that would pay your tuition (and more!).

Personally, I applied to a mixture of film and writing schools. I found the writing programs to be more respectful (no one in those programs asked me an illegal question, for example) as well as offering me more to me as a student. I will not be paying a dime of tuition for my education.

Even if you are not going into screenwriting, find a way to not go into debt. I have heard several directors, Alexander Payne amongst them, talking about how they can work the way they want to work because they keep their price low. You can't keep your price low if you have a house worth of debt hanging over your head.

Finally, you are going to get a lot of peer pressure to take on the debt since those people have done it and will feel better with you in the same boat. Ignore them.

 

[Chris W]

Originally posted by ThisSiteAsksForTooMuchInfo:
Even if you are not going into screenwriting, find a way to not go into debt. I have heard several directors, Alexander Payne amongst them, talking about how they can work the way they want to work because they keep their price low. You can't keep your price low if you have a house worth of debt hanging over your head.

Finally, you are going to get a lot of peer pressure to take on the debt since those people have done it and will feel better with you in the same boat. Ignore them.

Yes. Debt stinks. Minimize it at all costs. Seriously.

 

[Mike_V]

From what i've seen with people around me. Some work a brutal life to get their debts paid off while at school.
My gf's friend works almost 40 hours a week while going to school to help alleviate her debt when she's done.
Another girl i knew back in undergrad (at emory no less), worked as a waitress all 4 years that she was at school. She was able to save enough money to pay off her education AND get herself a breast augmentation at the same time.
It's brutal, but you would end up with less debt and less interest to pay if you do that, but just be aware that it'll be a very very very exhausting few years, but with alot of money saving (and who knows... character building)

 

[freakyfreddy]

I just looked at my financial aid rewards and the suggested loan amount. My eye started twitching.

 

[paulinnium]

it's something we all looked at (or should have) when we applied. i personally plan on working while in school to minimize the amount that (i know) i will have to loan. if you think a loan is worth it, there's nothing wrong with it - just keep track of what you're taking out and don't take out more than you want to pay back. it seems simple, but when those refund checks start rolling in and all of a sudden the budget to your next film seems $3000 bigger, it's very easy to forget.

 

[ColumbiaNYC]

Don't forget, if you apply for financial aid during your application process, most MFA programs will offer you a scholarship between 7.500$ and 15.000$ too.

 

[wannabe13]

How does Columbia determine who gets aid?

 

[paulinnium]

well as far as my experience goes, i just asked them for it.

i made it known on both my application and in my interview that i was interested in receiving a fellowship. (i put it in that part of the application at the end where they say "would you like to add anything else to your app?" and i worded it something like "i would appreciate your consideration for BLAH BLAH BLAH fellowship.")

not sure if that's exactly what made the difference, but i applied to both Columbia College Chicago and Chapman University, and was offered pretty nice fellowships from both.

letting them know you are interested in it can't hurt.