Paying for Grad school...

[Chad]

I am a sophomore undergrad student doing a project on what I want to go to after I graduate. I am looking to go into a film school, but it seems as if all films schools are going to put me in more debt than I can handle after my undergrad loans. I am wondering what advice people have for paying for grad school, and any helpful information attain financial help (I have heard a little bit about fellowships, but not too much).

 

[NeoNoir]

Paying for school is going to get a lot harder thanks to wall street bankers. Everyone thinking about graduate school, especially film school, needs to be aware of this.

Credit crunch hits student-loan market

I assume everyone here is applying because they REALLY want to spend their life making films and not just because it would be fun and interesting staying in school over joining the real world.

My first advice as current undergrad is to WORK your butt off to get a high GPA, GRE score, and make great relationships with the profs who will write you recommendation letters. That way if you are completely set on going directly after undergrad you put yourself in the best position to be offered merit assistance(this is different for all schools so it will depend where you want to go whether it will be a scholarship, fellowship, work-study or whatever).

I what recommend more is working in the real world for at least 2-3 years and pay down your debt as much as possible. Most of the film schools are looking for people who have been out in the real world and have those life experiences because school life and work life are VERY different. During that time you can take community college screenwriting courses or get involved in productions near you to show your dedication to the film craft when you apply. So, I say test the waters of life a bit and if you are still dying to go to film school when you are 25 you will feel a lot better taking on that mountain of debt we all having coming to us.