Is Art School “Worth It”?

One of the hot topics of conversation these days is whether or not college, and more specifically, art school is “worth it.” As someone who was fortunate enough to be able to obtain both an undergraduate and graduate degree in Studio Art, I have a lot of opinions on this topic. I won’t lie - the system is deeply flawed and has a multitude of things that need to be addressed, but for me, my answer is 100%, absolutely, YES. But it’s not that simple…

Let’s start with undergraduate programs. I graduated high school in 2004. It was a time when going to college was presented as the next step in life. Everyone I knew was planning on going to college, so I just kind of assumed that would be my next step too. My parents never pressured me, but the message I received from pretty much everyone else was that you were expected to get a degree, which would then guarantee you would be able to get a good job afterwards. I didn’t really have a clear idea of what type of career I wanted to pursue, but I knew I had always been drawn to creative endeavors, and had some natural, albeit undeveloped, skill in visual arts. I remember having to indicate what field of study I would be interested in on my applications, so I selected art. I had no idea what I was really getting myself into until additional applications came in asking me to send in my portfolio and supplemental materials. I scrambled to piece something together and had to submit slides - yep, that makes me feel old. Fast forward a few months, and by some miracle I was accepted into UCLA’s art program as one of thirty incoming freshmen. 

I lived in Los Angeles at the time, and UCLA was my top choice of schools. I had visited the campus for book fairs in the past, and fell in love every time I was there. Like many students, even though I was a resident of the state and received discounted tuition, it was still wildly expensive and my parents had to take out student loans. I recognize that not everyone can do this, and I fully understand how privileged I was to be able to do so. While I was a student, my tuition went up 14% every single year that I was there. It was outrageous. It’s still outrageous. 

But my four years at UCLA changed my life. Did I get a world class education? Absolutely. But it was the experiences I had as a young person that really left a lasting impression. I met people from all different walks of life, different socioeconomic backgrounds, different lived experiences. I lived on campus and stayed up late talking with my fellow students about the things we had learned, and asking big questions about our existence and how we experience the world around us. I debated with them, learned how to have respectful discussions, even when we didn’t agree. It feels like that skill is one that is quickly deteriorating in our country. 

I was a good student in grade school, but never truly enjoyed my classes (except for AP Art History - thanks to the most wonderful teacher, shout out to Dr. Coad!). When I got to college, I was so excited to have such a wide breadth of courses to choose from. I became a sponge, eager to soak up as much as I could. When I think back on those years, I don’t think about parties or the stress of exams. I think about sitting in a lecture hall while my art history professor sang “Starry, Starry Night” to us when we were learning about Vincent Van Gogh. I think about visiting my art instructor’s studios and seeing what it was like to be a working artist. I think about working late in the studio, painting and laughing with friends. 

As far as the art program itself goes, there is a lot to consider. Each school has a different philosophy and approach to their art programs. Some focus on teaching classical skills. Others, like UCLA, focus on teaching conceptual skills. The program was structured in a way that you were required to take a variety of courses in different areas - painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, photography, and new genres (which at the time, covered things like video and performance art). You learned a few “how to” skills, but it was largely focused on learning how to develop and convey your ideas through your art. The message was more important than the medium. I went into the program with very little taught skills. I do wish I had a bit more guidance in that arena, but the lack of engrained “this is how you paint xyz” allowed me to experiment and develop my own style. 

The most valuable part of art school for me were the critiques. Critiques, or crits for short, can be brutal. You put your work up on the wall, and then your entire class provides feedback. There were times when I shed more than a few tears, but this process teaches you so much. It wasn’t a matter of if someone liked your work, or thought it was “good”. As the person giving feedback, it taught you how to be critical in a way that helped the other person make their work more effective in communicating its message. As the person receiving feedback, it taught you how to not take criticism personally, and to be open to it so that you could present the strongest version of your work. It taught me how to keep going, even when you get knocked down. It taught me that failure is part of the process, and you will never have success without it. These are valuable lessons that I rely on for the success of my business today. 

I graduated in 2008 - a TERRIBLE time to be entering the workforce. It was rough. I wanted a job related to the field that I had just earned a degree in, but there were none to be had. So I started expanding my search, more and more, until I just started walking into places asking if they were hiring. One day I walked into Restoration Hardware, and they hired me on the spot. Was this my dream job? No. But I’ll never regret it because that’s where I met my now husband and soulmate. 

I worked for a few years, but desperately missed having art be a part of my everyday life. I had always wanted to go to graduate school, so that I could earn my MFA and become a professor. I wanted to be a working artist that showed in galleries, and help shape the next generation of artists. My husband has always supported me in going after my dreams, so I applied to graduate programs all across the country. I didn’t have personal student loan debt from my undergraduate degree, so I felt comfortable taking on some for my graduate program. I ended up accepting an offer from the School of Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston. It was a two year Masters program, so we packed our bags and flew across the country for this new adventure. I was lucky enough to earn a scholarship, but still had to take on loans to cover the rest of the tuition (hello, private school) and assist with the cost of living, which was much, much higher in Boston than in Portland at the time. 

I enjoyed my time at SMFA, and while it was also a conceptual based program, it was very different from my experience at UCLA. It was a smaller school, with less resources, but the teaching staff was incredible, and the proximity to New York City was exciting for me. The Los Angeles art scene has a very different vibe than the one in NYC, and it was thrilling to experience something new, to continue to expand that world view. I became a lecturer at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which is an experience I will cherish for my entire life, and I was able to develop as an artist in ways I never expected. I remember one of my professors telling us that the beauty of art school is that it condenses growing your skill in 2 years, when it would normally take 10 years if you were doing it while also working full-time, learning on your own, juggling all of the pieces of life. It’s a fast track.

I did find that to be true. After I graduated in 2015, we moved back to Portland, excited to start our lives here. Once again, the economic situation we found ourselves in was not great. It was hard to find work in my field here, particularly college-level teaching positions, and I ended up back in retail. There’s a lot of reasons why I decided to no longer pursue an academic career, but in hindsight, I know the combination of my educational background and retail experience have helped me immensely in running my own business. 

Do I think you need an art degree to have a career in art? No. You can absolutely learn the skills on your own, and with so many resources available online, you can do it without the financial burden of higher education. Most of my actual art skills are self taught. When you do something over and over and over again, you start to get better at it. You make a lot of “interesting” looking things along the way, but eventually you see the payoff. 

Do I wish I didn’t have student loan debt? Duh. I had no idea what I was getting myself into with the loans I took, and we could do a lot better at educating people about that. I was young, and came of age at a time when it was the norm to take on these huge loans and get your degree, thinking that you’d be able to pay them off easily once you got a good job. I thought becoming a college professor would be one of those “good jobs”. Adjunct professors are severely underpaid - that is a topic for another day - so even if I had landed that role as a professor right out of school, I would still be paying off my student loans (and the criminal interest). But the experiences I had, and the growth I went through as a person are forever going to be worth it to me. I wouldn’t be who I am today without it. 
It’s hard to say if I could recommend it to someone these days. If you have the financial means, then absolutely. If you don’t, there could be other ways for you to get a similar experience. Travel for one - that is a fantastic way to expand your worldview! But, of course not everyone can afford to travel to far off lands, especially these days. There are also tons of online courses you can take for a fraction of the cost of tuition. At 18, I didn’t know what to look for, and these resources were not at my disposal in 2004, but now they are. When it comes down to it, you absolutely do not need a degree to make art or be an artist. It just depends on what experience you want, and if you feel the financial strain is going to outweigh the lived experience. It’s not a decision to make lightly, and the financial implications are REAL. Seek out people who can help you understand what taking a loan out looks like down the road once you graduate. I would tell my younger self to only take out what I needed to cover tuition and books/fees, and to get scrappy with finding ways to fill in the rest of the gaps.

What I do know is that my art school experiences transformed me, and cracked open new parts of me that I’m not sure I would have discovered otherwise. It’s made me the curious person I am today, always seeking to learn and grow. I’ll cherish that time for the rest of my life.