If you’ve ever looked at “HuffPost College” online, you might have seen the column featuring young people holding signs stating how much debt they have from college. The headline reads: “Share Your Story — Majoring in Debt,” and a slide show of various frowning students plays across the screen.
A quick click through the 2010 slide show reveals that one of the frowns is none other than Travis Walters, a former editor-in-chief of SCAD Savannah’s online newspaper, “District.” In the piece, Walters said he worried that he would regret his choice to study writing at an art school with such a heavy price tag. With $60,000 of post-grad debt, who wouldn’t be? “But I don’t,” Walters said. “I think it was worth it.”
Loans are one of many ways SCAD students pay for school. Getting into debt is typically the least favored option, but it is also the most common. Some students are eligible to receive partial scholarships based on academic and/or artistic achievement. But where does the rest of the money for school come from?
Hank Silman, a second-year interactive design and game development student, was lucky enough to have a grandfather who helped develop the concept for Ace Hardware. “It’s the only reason I go here,” Silman said, of money his grandfather left him for college.
For those of us who do not have an entrepreneur in the family, willing to foot the bills, what are our options? First-year photography student Vivian Boyett is the lucky recipient of a competitive scholarship she was at first wary of talking about. The scholarship, titled simply “Wish,” enables Boyett to attend SCAD nearly free. The mention of a full-ride scholarship can garner looks of envy from other students.
Rich family members and scholarships aside, students often borrow loans to pay the expensive price tag that comes with school. Ashley Charles, first-year fashion design student, will be graduating with debt on her shoulders. This seems oxymoronic, considering that college is supposed to prepare you for a strong professional life, but forces many of students into debt. The decision to borrow loans to pay for college is huge, as it can take nearly a lifetime to pay back. But winning scholarships is a way to alleviate some of that burden and SCAD Atlanta is currently accepting scholarship applications for current students.
For more information on applying, log in to MySCAD and view “Scholarships for Current Students” on the Student Workspace page. Web sites such as FastWeb and ArtSchools can also be good resources for students seeking to truly get the most out of their financial investment.
Editor’s note: This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: April 8, 2011
The article about college debt implied that SCAD graduate Travis Walters was still worried about regretting the price of attending SCAD, instead of asserting that he did not regret it.
