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Graduate programs that subsidize
scholarship with tuition waivers,
assistantships and other forms of financial support.
by Jill Waterman
Tuition increases and the ongoing erosion of arts funding
are sobering realities that everyone involved in photography
education must face. Despite these challenges, some students
can benefit from subsidized study at a number of good schools.
These programs are generally small and fly under the radar
of major art schools that educate students at top-dollar rates.
We spoke with educators and students at three schools that
offer tuition waivers, graduate teaching assistantships and
other financial perks.
University of Notre Dame
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
A private Midwestern university perhaps best known as a powerhouse
in sports, the University of Notre Dame has offered a tuition
and stipend program to their photography graduate students
for over 15 years.
“We made a choice many years ago to make sure that
every grad student accepted to Notre Dame’s MFA program
receive a full tuition waiver for three years plus a stipend
for living expenses, so they don’t pay to come to school
here,” explains Richard Gray, associate professor in
Notre Dame’s photography department.
“We used to be way ahead of many programs. Very few
were awarding these kinds of scholarships,” he adds.
“But I think a lot of schools have caught up and have
decent support programs, yet because they’re bigger,
they probably don’t support everybody that way.”
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WEB SITE:
www.nd.edu/~art/art/photography.htm
DEGREES OFFERED:
BA, BFA and MFA degrees in Studio Art
LENGTH OF GRADUATE PROGRAM:
60 credit hours, 3 years.
STUDENT POPULATION:
Approximately 12,000 total
SIZE OF ART, ART HISTORY AND DESIGN DEPARTMENTS:
220 undergraduates across all degrees/disciplines, 20 MFA
students, 3 in photography, 5 MA students in Art History
TUITION AND FEES (2007):
Approximately $34,500
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
Full-tuition waivers for up to three years for all MFA students.
Partial stipends ($6,000) in the first year and full stipends
($10,000) in second and third years. Second-and third-year
students teach in the undergraduate program. Modest travel
funding for professional development (conferences), plus the
option to apply for university and government financial aid.
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Gray explains that a key difference between the funding abilities
of a school like Notre Dame and the art schools best known
for their photography programs is that art schools need to
be tuition driven, while a larger university has more financial
pots to tap. “Because we have so many other revenue
streams and income from other tuition directions, there is
some leverage for building graduate programs across all disciplines,
whereas at private art schools, they need those dollars,”
he says.
Notre Dame’s graduate photography program is very small,
with only three or four MFA candidates in attendance at any
one time. Photography grads are integrated with grad students
in other areas of studio arts and design, who also receive
the same financial support. There are about 20 graduates in
the entire group, and all students can study with any faculty
member in the program.
“There’s a lot of cross-pollination between the
various media,” says Gray. “I’ll have students
come in out of a strong undergrad photography program, and
before they’re done, they are working with installation,
sculpture and video because they have access to these other
faculty. And because everyone is on more or less a level playing
field financially, there’s a great culture and a great
working relationship between all the students.”
To identify the best students for the program, Gray actively
recruits candidates by networking with colleagues and tapping
the resources of organizations like the Society for Photographic
Education. Potential candidates are asked to submit a formal
application and portfolio in time for an all-faculty, all-student
informational review session in early March. The faculty then
gathers to discuss top candidates, who are contacted about
a campus visit. Since Gray is unlikely to accept a student
who has not visited the program, he may even cover travel
costs for prospective students to come for an interview.
“We try to be pretty selective about whom we admit,
and we have made a conscious decision to not try to grow the
program, because we wouldn’t necessarily get additional
funding from the grad school right away,” explains Gray.
He believes that it’s essential for grad students to
carefully shop for schools, meet the faculty and get a sense
of the culture at the schools they apply to, in order to make
a decision they’ll be happy about. “You can’t
just depend on the reputation of a place,” Gray advises.
“Students really need to know what’s going on
at a school during their three year window.”
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WEB SITE:
web.cfa.arizona.edu/art/index.php/photography
DEGREES OFFERED:
BA, BFA, MA, MFA and PhD in Studio Art, Art Education and
Art History
LENGTH OF GRADUATE PROGRAM:
3 years, 60 credits.
STUDENT POPULATION:
Approximately 36,500 total
SIZE OF SCHOOL OF ART:
Approximately 725 undergraduates in Studio Art, Art Education
and Art History, approximately 60 BFA photo majors. Approximately
85 grad students in MA, MFA and PhD programs including 6 to
10 photography grad students.
TUITION AND FEES FOR GRADUATE STUDY (2007-08), BASED ON
CREDITS TAKEN:
In state: 7 or more credits, $2,883.92 per semester/
$5,767.84 per year
Out of state: 12 or more credits, $8,286.92 per semester/$16,573.84
per year
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
Tuition waivers, Graduate teaching assistantships, other (merit)
scholarships available through the University of Arizona,
UA Graduate College, School of Art and the College of Fine
Arts.
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University of Arizona
TUSCON, ARIZONA
The Southwest has a rich history of artists and photography,
and a number of this region’s photography programs are
ranked in the top ten by U.S. News and World Report.
The photography department at ninth-ranked University of
Arizona (U of A) emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach
and offers its graduate students numerous possibilities for
tuition waivers, paid assistantships and other forms of financial
support.
With a new, centralized building to house individual graduate
studios slated to open in fall 2009, extensive facilities
for media studies and digital output, several new faculty
appointments and strengthening ties with the faculty and programs
at Arizona State University (ASU), the U of A is currently
on a mission that stresses excellence in programs and raises
the bar for its students.
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| “I feel like I’m getting paid to go to school
as opposed to paying for school, which is really awesome.” |
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On the graduate level, the photography division recently
submitted a grant to the Graduate College for multiple two-year
fellowships that will provide a total of $80,000 in support
for incoming photography MFAs. “If the grant is successful,
then incoming photo recruits will have the majority of their
educational costs covered,” explains Martina Shenal,
assistant director of the U of A’s School of Art.
For undergraduate study, the U of A is bucking the national
trend and downsizing its program, resulting in a smaller student-to-faculty
ratio. “We’re really trying to line up our resources,
to know what we can comfortably manage and still have studio
classes with 15 to 20 students,” says Shenal.
The U of A’s downsizing efforts have had some interesting
results. “By raising the bar for undergrads, they kind
of self-sensor,” Shenal explains. “The students
who don’t feel like they’re strong enough just
don’t apply, so we actually have fewer applications,
and the quality of work is higher.”
Because U of A is a state school, there is a sizable difference
in tuition costs between Arizona residents and students coming
from out of state. State deficits, budget cuts and soaring
educational costs can make residency requirements a contentious
issue for out of state students.
Shenal notes that out-of-state candidates interested in an
economical option for attending a state-funded program must
establish residency as a nonstudent first. The prospective
student could start taking classes as a non-degree seeking
grad or even attend graduate seminars based on a portfolio
review. While there is never a guarantee of future admission,
forging relationships and testing one’s fit in a program
that admits two to three graduate students per year might
better the odds that a prospective student will make the cut.
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| © Bekah Just |
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| Installation view: Bekah Just’s exhibition “Three
Strikes, You’re Out” in the Grant Hall Student
Gallery at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. |
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University of Nevada at Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
As a city with an unusually rich visual palette, Las Vegas
can present photographers with a unique challenge of color
and light. In the midst of this visual oasis, the program
at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) offers an
attractive financial arrangement to its photography graduate
students.
A small program that also offers a multidisciplinary approach,
graduate-level classes at UNLV mix students from all subject
areas—photography, video, painting, drawing, graphic
design, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics and installation
work.
“Graduate students have the opportunity to work with
all 15 different faculty members, not just the two photo professors,”
says Catherine Angel, codirector (with Pasha Rafat) of UNLV’s
photography department. “The selection process for incoming
grads is done by the entire full-time, faculty which results
in a really interesting mix of students,” she adds.
During three years of study, a total of six photography MFA
candidates receive tuition waivers, individual studios and
approximately $10,000 a year in assistantships. In the first
year, each student works with Angel for ten hours a week to
learn the ropes of a course they will later teach. A second
ten hours a week is spent maintaining one of the photo labs
and working with introductory students. In their second and
third years, graduate students begin teaching courses on their
own, mentored at first by Angel, who provides them with a
set curriculum until they gain the confidence needed to shape
the class with their own approach.
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WEB SITE:
art.unlv.edu
DEGREES OFFERED:
BA, BFA and MFA degrees in Studio Art and Art History
LENGTH OF GRADUATE PROGRAM:
3 years, 60 credits
STUDENT POPULATION:
Approximately 28,500 total
SIZE OF SCHOOL OF ART, ART HISTORY AND DESIGN DEPARTMENTS:
450 undergraduates across all disciplines, 90 in photography,18
graduate students across all disciplines, 5 in photography/mixed
media
TUITION AND FEES (2007):
In state: Undergraduate: $117 per credit; graduate:
$172 per credit
Out of state: Undergraduate: $567 per credit, Graduate:
$773 per credit
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
Tuition waivers, graduate assistantships, plus the option
to apply for university and government financial aid.
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“Getting to teach almost immediately was extremely
attractive to me,” says second-year graduate student
Bekah Just. “The professors really find out what kind
of track you want to take and then cater to your needs. They
made sure I would have plenty of classes and a nice résumé
under my belt when I leave. I feel like I’m getting
paid to go to school as opposed to paying for school, which
is really awesome,” she effuses.
By relocating from her native California for a job in Nevada
a year before she applied to the program, Just was able to
establish residency there first. “Las Vegas is a totally
different place from any other city I’ve lived in,”
she explains. “I’ve watched my fellow grad students
try to adjust, but I was lucky enough to already know the
city and have established some local contacts. And I got the
initial glamour and excitement of the city under my belt first
as well.”
She adds, “There’s just so much to do here, any
time of day or night, that it’s easy to get distracted,
but at the same time, it’s really inspiring to shoot
all the time.”
Las Vegas also offers a great potential for commercial photography
jobs. “People call the school all the time asking for
students to come help with shoots,” Just says.
Angel encourages her students to get commercial shooting
experience during their graduate studies, so they can start
building a work portfolio in addition to their fine art. “As
photographers, it’s important for students to realize
they have skills that they can use to make a living,”
she advises. “You’re not going to compromise your
art work because you shot a commercial job,” Angel says.
“Go and learn from it, make some good money, and do
some good work for your client.”
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HERE TO READ ABOUT ADDITIONAL SCHOOLS.
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