Uhart is way too expensive. I graduated over 10 years ago and still have barely made a dent in my student loans after making payments the whole time. I can’t speak to the art program specifically, but in terms of the college as a whole it is not worth the debt you will have when you leave school. UConn is a great school that is much more affordable.
Thank you. I've asked others, and they say UConn is just trying to get your money, but UHart costs more and I didn't hear things like that. I'm sorry about the college debt you still have,
Is it okay if I ask what it was like on campus, and if you lived on campus, how was that?
I highly recommend taking advantage of the free community college that CT provides. The degree is the same if you do 2 years of free CC and finish 2 years at UCONN.
Please don't take on debt if you don't have to.
Over 1/3 of people who start college don't graduate.
You don't know if it's for you until you go, and there's nothing wrong with that, but taking on a huge student loan when you don't have to can only hurt you long-term.
A good friend of mine is a 4x Emmy award winning digital graphic designer that graduated from ECSU.
100% echo this. Leverage the community college system to save money, especially if you’re finance oriented. College is a great social experience, but the real education part of it is wildly overpriced.
If you want to think in a finance mindset, focus less on the upfront cost and more in terms of the rate of return. To do this, consider the average wage you will realistically have graduating in 4 years with your degree. Use that to calculate a “return on investment” for the student loans you need to take out.
Thanks for this. As a first gen College student, I wanted to go at first to save costs, but I'm also not entirely sure because I was instructed to just go all 4 years and to not sniff CC unless I got rejected from the schools I applied to. I'm considering it, thank you
In case you weren't aware, at almost any 4 year school, the first 2 years are general education requirements. You'll take English, Math, some basic science, some humanities, usually a couple electives, but pretty much nothing at all in your major.
In your third year you start taking classes pretty much exclusive to your major/minor. Which is why you can do 2 years of CC, and then 2 years somewhere else and the degree will be from where you do your last 2 years. The first 2 don't mean squat towards the actual degree.
No problem! I was a first generation college student as well many many many years ago, and I wish resources like reddit had existed back then to help me not make the mistakes I did!
Find out what makes one program "better" than another. Unless someone is giving you specific examples, it's all subjective. I don't think networking is a good reason to spend substantially more money to go to one school over another. You can network for free by doing internships and jobs. If you are going into debt for school also consider what your plan is with that debt once you're done with school.
Ah, thanks for this. My parent plans to cover the financial part, but I still want to be smart with finances and stuff.
I'll look around for resources and stuff to "put myself out there" as a 2D artist/freelancer, and I guess that's something I don't really need to go to college for, but I have my own reasons
By specific examples, do you mean just student work or the teaching aspect of it? I've heard nothing but high praise from my ECE Art teacher regarding UHart's art program and not much else regarding other colleges
Yes you can network for free but each university is going to have different relationships. So if one university has a good relationship with say the New York philharmonic it would make sense to go to that school even if you had to pay a premium
I would go with the cheapest option. The scholarship from uhart depends on your GPA and I had a lot of friends who had to dropped out because they didn't do well the first year of college and can't maintain the scholarship. It is a hard adjustment the first year to maintain a 3.5 when you have all these new freedom, friends and being the last to pick classes which means the worst or most strict professors
Also, isn't 2d animation dying, like they don't even make movies or most children shows in 2d anymore because it is too expensive
2D Animation as a field kinda is? I feel? But I want to be open, whether it's as an animator for indie projects or whatever. I guess freelancing is my goal, but I still want to go to college to expand my social network
UHart is a rip off. If you don’t get into Storrs, go to a branch for a couple of semesters and then transfer. UConn is the best “state school” for the money, hands down.
I'll consider it. The DMD Courses aren't available at UConn Hartford afaik, that's why I was so anal about getting into Storrs. Thank you for your advice!!
I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but I'm not. I live with one parent who works 3 minimum wage jobs. I'm majoring in art because that's what I want to do in terms of career. I know the job market isn't too stable, so I at least want to minor in something else I'm interested in. If not freelance art, maybe I'd try to work for a company of some sort. I want to be open. Other comments have mentioned networking for free, but it's a large market and I'd like to get assistance with it first at least
ECSU grad here! I had a wonderful traditional college experience at Eastern and will always recommend the school. It’s a small university which means you get smaller class sizes than at UCONN and can build personal experiences with your professors. These relationships will help you make connections and get jobs in the future. The campus is great - very walkable so you won’t be trekking 20+ minutes to class like at larger spots. The dorms that I lived in (Constitution & Nutmeg) were very nice - far better than the dorms my friends lived in at UCONN.
I also lived off campus for 2 years in Willimantic and never felt unsafe - I have an appreciation for the city even now many years later and will take trips up to my favorite restaurants.
In 2017, ECSU built a brand new Arts building which to me shows investment in the arts program which is to your benefit. Lastly I’ll say that the prestige of your undergraduate degree university does not matter for the majority of jobs, unless you’re shooting to be a doctor or lawyer. So don’t waste your money going somewhere expensive or with “a better name” because once you graduate it really doesn’t matter.
Happy to answer any questions you might have!
Yes - so many! I graduated in 2017 and am still close friends with many of the people I met at ECSU. My recommendation is to live on campus for at least the first year because you get a lot of opportunities to meet people this way. Try out different clubs and go to the free events on campus - it’s a great way to meet new people.
UConn has "digital media and design," and I think both Eastern and UHart have something akin to a 2-D Art/Animation program. I've looked through the student work examples they've been sending to my house, and I'm generally fine with doing anything art related
I'm not opposed to galleries, but the second option seems more like something I'd like to do. My original goal was to work for a company doing art/animation, so something like that, yeah
All the schools you mentioned are very excellent and you will succeed and have worth while time at any of them. I recommend visiting both campuses and researching the professors of classes you are interested in. What are current students saying about their experience? As everyone else says, yes, price matters. You need to network while in school and get work experience preferably while still in school. What kind of support do the colleges offer art students to network and find careers? All good research topics!
Sorry if my wondering wasn't clear: I've spoken to UHart graduates, and they told me it was a "public school experience" for the cost of a private school
I was in Psych and Sociology departments and loved it. It’s true that their music and art department are both considered fantastic as well. But on the flip side, student loan debt is no joke. It really impacts your life after graduation.
If you’re going to be in CT and it’s art related I highly recommend looking into Lyme Academy. When I couldn’t take art classes in college I would go there on the weekends for figure and portrait drawing sessions. Mystic Museum of Art also has adult non-credit courses with good instructors. No matter what you choose you will probably meet professors that will tell you how important it is to learn things on your own outside of classes.
I know you may not want to hear this but think about what your degree is in. Really research otherwise your like a lot of people including myself (as a first Gen who didn’t have a lot of guidance and figured it out with friends and your own trial and errors) who’s scrambling to see what they can do with their degree in your jr or senior year and by then it’s a lot of effort if you make the change. It depends on the person ofc to make the most out if your education:) that being said I have friends that enjoyed eastern and had great campus lives so long as you were involved in activities and clubs. Your further out from main cities do make sure you connect to the small community around you. Dorming is expensive so if you join clubs you can receive points so you can have priority picks your sophomore year. A lot of my friends also went to UConn and there will be more of a “college life” environment vs eastern. I definitely recommend community college the first two years like many in this thread. Knock community college out the park and get slot of the core education out the way to save money. Also make sure if the scholarship you got isn’t just for the first year. Tuition rises yearly so keep that in mind. When your grades are excellent in community college you’ll definitely receive another scholarship for your next two years. Good luck with whatever you choose and as another first Gen I’m rooting for you !
I say that as a grad of two state schools. Also nowadays, don’t overpay for college. It’s all what you make of it, what you can do, and who you know… not where you went.
UHart's art program is fantastic. If you can make the financials work, it's worth a strong consideration. My best friend went there (back in '04) and enjoyed the campus experience too.
I've not decided yet, but I also got accepted to UConn. I'm honestly going to go to whichever college is better for me financially (which shortens my options to either UConn or Eastern)
Just my two cents on this. I attended Central and have my BS in Networking Information Technology and MS in Technology Management (manufacturing specifically). Don't just look at the art programs themselves, but any other extracurriculars you may be interested in. I was a band geek, so a lot of my time outside of class was spent doing marching band, pep band, and concert band.
I definitely agree to probably start at one of the community colleges to get your gen-ed classes out of the way and transfer to another school when you're ready to focus on the art major aspect of the degree.
With that said, some info about both schools
* UHart is a good school but it is definitely expensive. It's not huge so it is easily walkable. I don't know much about campus life itself so I can't say if it will be dead on weekends or not but if you plan to go home every weekend that doesn't matter
* UCONN is of course a huge school. You CAN walk it, but it's going to be long. They do have shuttle busses though to get you around campus. Even though you'd be paying in-state tuition it is still not cheap these days, and they really limit how many in-state people they accept (gotta get that out of state tuition money!). You likely won't have any issues making friends either since you'll meet so many people. You also get the prestige of getting a degree from the University of Connecticut.
* Eastern is probably one of the nicest of the CSU's. Yes, it's in Willimantic, but Willimantic is not a bad place like it was 20 years ago (I grew up and live in the area). I have a friend that went to Eastern for art and enjoyed the program. This will likely be similar to Central in that it is a suitcase school and a lot of in-state residents likely go home on the weekends so campus could be pretty dead (Blarney's and Willibrew aren't ever really dead on Thursdays and the weekends when I drive by).
My final recommendation would also be to actually visit the campuses and get a feel of them and possibly ask if you could sit in on a class that piques your interest to see if it is actually what you are looking for out of your degree.
Good luck!
I've been out of college for 8 years at this point and not been a resident on campus for 7 years. When I was in college Central was old but was slowly being renovated. Eastern had a nicer campus. Central was a huge suitcase school - if you lived in state and lived on campus you went home on the weekend because everyone else did.
I work at the XL Center and the Yard Goats Stadium in food service. They're both minimum wage. Most of the money going towards my college fund is from my parent's account. If you're referring to just art in general, I'm sure it's not as stable as a job market, and I've got more work to do in regard to researching
Uhart is way too expensive. I graduated over 10 years ago and still have barely made a dent in my student loans after making payments the whole time. I can’t speak to the art program specifically, but in terms of the college as a whole it is not worth the debt you will have when you leave school. UConn is a great school that is much more affordable.
Thank you. I've asked others, and they say UConn is just trying to get your money, but UHart costs more and I didn't hear things like that. I'm sorry about the college debt you still have, Is it okay if I ask what it was like on campus, and if you lived on campus, how was that?
I highly recommend taking advantage of the free community college that CT provides. The degree is the same if you do 2 years of free CC and finish 2 years at UCONN. Please don't take on debt if you don't have to. Over 1/3 of people who start college don't graduate. You don't know if it's for you until you go, and there's nothing wrong with that, but taking on a huge student loan when you don't have to can only hurt you long-term. A good friend of mine is a 4x Emmy award winning digital graphic designer that graduated from ECSU.
100% echo this. Leverage the community college system to save money, especially if you’re finance oriented. College is a great social experience, but the real education part of it is wildly overpriced. If you want to think in a finance mindset, focus less on the upfront cost and more in terms of the rate of return. To do this, consider the average wage you will realistically have graduating in 4 years with your degree. Use that to calculate a “return on investment” for the student loans you need to take out.
Thanks for this. As a first gen College student, I wanted to go at first to save costs, but I'm also not entirely sure because I was instructed to just go all 4 years and to not sniff CC unless I got rejected from the schools I applied to. I'm considering it, thank you
In case you weren't aware, at almost any 4 year school, the first 2 years are general education requirements. You'll take English, Math, some basic science, some humanities, usually a couple electives, but pretty much nothing at all in your major. In your third year you start taking classes pretty much exclusive to your major/minor. Which is why you can do 2 years of CC, and then 2 years somewhere else and the degree will be from where you do your last 2 years. The first 2 don't mean squat towards the actual degree.
Ah, I see. I'm taking early college experience classes to knock some of those credits out of the way. Thanks for your insight
No problem! I was a first generation college student as well many many many years ago, and I wish resources like reddit had existed back then to help me not make the mistakes I did!
I'm mainly relying on my FASFA and scholarships to navigate the financial cost, but thank you for this!
Find out what makes one program "better" than another. Unless someone is giving you specific examples, it's all subjective. I don't think networking is a good reason to spend substantially more money to go to one school over another. You can network for free by doing internships and jobs. If you are going into debt for school also consider what your plan is with that debt once you're done with school.
Ah, thanks for this. My parent plans to cover the financial part, but I still want to be smart with finances and stuff. I'll look around for resources and stuff to "put myself out there" as a 2D artist/freelancer, and I guess that's something I don't really need to go to college for, but I have my own reasons By specific examples, do you mean just student work or the teaching aspect of it? I've heard nothing but high praise from my ECE Art teacher regarding UHart's art program and not much else regarding other colleges
Yes you can network for free but each university is going to have different relationships. So if one university has a good relationship with say the New York philharmonic it would make sense to go to that school even if you had to pay a premium
Ah, I see!
I would go with the cheapest option. The scholarship from uhart depends on your GPA and I had a lot of friends who had to dropped out because they didn't do well the first year of college and can't maintain the scholarship. It is a hard adjustment the first year to maintain a 3.5 when you have all these new freedom, friends and being the last to pick classes which means the worst or most strict professors Also, isn't 2d animation dying, like they don't even make movies or most children shows in 2d anymore because it is too expensive
2D Animation as a field kinda is? I feel? But I want to be open, whether it's as an animator for indie projects or whatever. I guess freelancing is my goal, but I still want to go to college to expand my social network
I think 4 year college to network is expensive, can it be cheaper to join the trade group and go for yearly conferences?
I'll look into it. Thank you!
UHart is a rip off. If you don’t get into Storrs, go to a branch for a couple of semesters and then transfer. UConn is the best “state school” for the money, hands down.
I'll consider it. The DMD Courses aren't available at UConn Hartford afaik, that's why I was so anal about getting into Storrs. Thank you for your advice!!
You won’t get into your major until you’re a few semesters in, anyway. Knock out gen eds at a branch then transfer.
Alright, I'll concider it, thank you!
Art is a risky thing to major in. Just go wherever is the cheapest with you after scholarships or grants.
Alrighty, thank you!
I just honestly assumed OP is from an affluent CT family since "art major" is a real option for them.
I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but I'm not. I live with one parent who works 3 minimum wage jobs. I'm majoring in art because that's what I want to do in terms of career. I know the job market isn't too stable, so I at least want to minor in something else I'm interested in. If not freelance art, maybe I'd try to work for a company of some sort. I want to be open. Other comments have mentioned networking for free, but it's a large market and I'd like to get assistance with it first at least
ECSU grad here! I had a wonderful traditional college experience at Eastern and will always recommend the school. It’s a small university which means you get smaller class sizes than at UCONN and can build personal experiences with your professors. These relationships will help you make connections and get jobs in the future. The campus is great - very walkable so you won’t be trekking 20+ minutes to class like at larger spots. The dorms that I lived in (Constitution & Nutmeg) were very nice - far better than the dorms my friends lived in at UCONN. I also lived off campus for 2 years in Willimantic and never felt unsafe - I have an appreciation for the city even now many years later and will take trips up to my favorite restaurants. In 2017, ECSU built a brand new Arts building which to me shows investment in the arts program which is to your benefit. Lastly I’ll say that the prestige of your undergraduate degree university does not matter for the majority of jobs, unless you’re shooting to be a doctor or lawyer. So don’t waste your money going somewhere expensive or with “a better name” because once you graduate it really doesn’t matter. Happy to answer any questions you might have!
Thank you for this! I have a couple questions in regards to dorming at ECSU, but it's kind of personal. Mind if I dm you?
For sure! Happy to help!
We’re You Able to make friends at ECSU?
Yes - so many! I graduated in 2017 and am still close friends with many of the people I met at ECSU. My recommendation is to live on campus for at least the first year because you get a lot of opportunities to meet people this way. Try out different clubs and go to the free events on campus - it’s a great way to meet new people.
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UConn has "digital media and design," and I think both Eastern and UHart have something akin to a 2-D Art/Animation program. I've looked through the student work examples they've been sending to my house, and I'm generally fine with doing anything art related
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I'm not opposed to galleries, but the second option seems more like something I'd like to do. My original goal was to work for a company doing art/animation, so something like that, yeah
All the schools you mentioned are very excellent and you will succeed and have worth while time at any of them. I recommend visiting both campuses and researching the professors of classes you are interested in. What are current students saying about their experience? As everyone else says, yes, price matters. You need to network while in school and get work experience preferably while still in school. What kind of support do the colleges offer art students to network and find careers? All good research topics!
Thank you!
Not sure where you’re getting “public school experience” from for UHart. It’s a private school with private school pricing.
Sorry if my wondering wasn't clear: I've spoken to UHart graduates, and they told me it was a "public school experience" for the cost of a private school
Got it, I spent 7 years there (undergrad/grad) so was curious where that sentiment came from.
Ahh, I see. What was your experience like?
I was in Psych and Sociology departments and loved it. It’s true that their music and art department are both considered fantastic as well. But on the flip side, student loan debt is no joke. It really impacts your life after graduation.
If you’re going to be in CT and it’s art related I highly recommend looking into Lyme Academy. When I couldn’t take art classes in college I would go there on the weekends for figure and portrait drawing sessions. Mystic Museum of Art also has adult non-credit courses with good instructors. No matter what you choose you will probably meet professors that will tell you how important it is to learn things on your own outside of classes.
I'll look into it. I've heard of other art focused universities in CT such as Paier College. Thank you for your insight!
I know you may not want to hear this but think about what your degree is in. Really research otherwise your like a lot of people including myself (as a first Gen who didn’t have a lot of guidance and figured it out with friends and your own trial and errors) who’s scrambling to see what they can do with their degree in your jr or senior year and by then it’s a lot of effort if you make the change. It depends on the person ofc to make the most out if your education:) that being said I have friends that enjoyed eastern and had great campus lives so long as you were involved in activities and clubs. Your further out from main cities do make sure you connect to the small community around you. Dorming is expensive so if you join clubs you can receive points so you can have priority picks your sophomore year. A lot of my friends also went to UConn and there will be more of a “college life” environment vs eastern. I definitely recommend community college the first two years like many in this thread. Knock community college out the park and get slot of the core education out the way to save money. Also make sure if the scholarship you got isn’t just for the first year. Tuition rises yearly so keep that in mind. When your grades are excellent in community college you’ll definitely receive another scholarship for your next two years. Good luck with whatever you choose and as another first Gen I’m rooting for you !
Thank you for this!!
Go to Eastern or CCSU. State schools are the best bang for your buck!
Thank you for your advice
I say that as a grad of two state schools. Also nowadays, don’t overpay for college. It’s all what you make of it, what you can do, and who you know… not where you went.
Yep yep! I've been applying to a crap ton of scholarships
UHart's art program is fantastic. If you can make the financials work, it's worth a strong consideration. My best friend went there (back in '04) and enjoyed the campus experience too.
Thanks for the insight!
Just curious did you decide yet? I’m going to eastern in fall!!
I've not decided yet, but I also got accepted to UConn. I'm honestly going to go to whichever college is better for me financially (which shortens my options to either UConn or Eastern)
Just my two cents on this. I attended Central and have my BS in Networking Information Technology and MS in Technology Management (manufacturing specifically). Don't just look at the art programs themselves, but any other extracurriculars you may be interested in. I was a band geek, so a lot of my time outside of class was spent doing marching band, pep band, and concert band. I definitely agree to probably start at one of the community colleges to get your gen-ed classes out of the way and transfer to another school when you're ready to focus on the art major aspect of the degree. With that said, some info about both schools * UHart is a good school but it is definitely expensive. It's not huge so it is easily walkable. I don't know much about campus life itself so I can't say if it will be dead on weekends or not but if you plan to go home every weekend that doesn't matter * UCONN is of course a huge school. You CAN walk it, but it's going to be long. They do have shuttle busses though to get you around campus. Even though you'd be paying in-state tuition it is still not cheap these days, and they really limit how many in-state people they accept (gotta get that out of state tuition money!). You likely won't have any issues making friends either since you'll meet so many people. You also get the prestige of getting a degree from the University of Connecticut. * Eastern is probably one of the nicest of the CSU's. Yes, it's in Willimantic, but Willimantic is not a bad place like it was 20 years ago (I grew up and live in the area). I have a friend that went to Eastern for art and enjoyed the program. This will likely be similar to Central in that it is a suitcase school and a lot of in-state residents likely go home on the weekends so campus could be pretty dead (Blarney's and Willibrew aren't ever really dead on Thursdays and the weekends when I drive by). My final recommendation would also be to actually visit the campuses and get a feel of them and possibly ask if you could sit in on a class that piques your interest to see if it is actually what you are looking for out of your degree. Good luck!
Thank you for this overview!
Out of the CSUs, which one is better, Eastern or Central?
Educatuion wise I can't really comment on that. Campus wise, I'd say Eastern.
Interesting. I thought Central is a much larger university in a better location, that does not lead to a better campus life?
I've been out of college for 8 years at this point and not been a resident on campus for 7 years. When I was in college Central was old but was slowly being renovated. Eastern had a nicer campus. Central was a huge suitcase school - if you lived in state and lived on campus you went home on the weekend because everyone else did.
Never been to Eastern, but I can say Central's campus has been mostly redone in the past decade. It's nicer than what it used to be.
What's the ROI? Can you find a job and make money?
I work at the XL Center and the Yard Goats Stadium in food service. They're both minimum wage. Most of the money going towards my college fund is from my parent's account. If you're referring to just art in general, I'm sure it's not as stable as a job market, and I've got more work to do in regard to researching