College on Sale! Coupon Code Here. Save up to 40%

What to do? Enrollment is down 20% at Kutztown University from its peak. YOW! Kutztown is the best school for art and design in the state of PA. Full disclosure: I teach at KU.

Let’s crunch some numbers: Private art colleges are great, but cost a fortune. Take PA Academy of Fine Arts,- A BFA from PAFA? Four years tuition is $150,584. According to Payscale.com, median salary for new illustrator, 1 year out of college is $37,638.

Kutztown’s annual tuition and fees for instate students is $9,618 X 4 years = $38,472. So a PA resident saves $112,000 over a private school. One could build a pretty fine studio with that money, or get an MFA.

What about Out-of-Staters? Glad you asked.

 Effective immediately, Kutztown University is offering a 40% tuition reduction to all admitted out-of-state students. This reduction will be offered to non-PA residents upon acceptance to KU.. This makes the current out-of-state tuition price roughly $10,850, a savings of over $7,000 from last year.” 

I think this is great news from our Admissions Office. I am a proud New Jersey native, but Kutztown is now a bargain for Jersey students.

Does it make sense to go to art school at all? That is a bigger question. I tell students being an illustrator is like being an actor. There are many people with the requisite skill set. Some have the talent, luck, and personality to succeed. A good number of grads have gone far with Kutztown degrees.

All artwork in this post is by KU grads. Art ©the original artists, see more at these links: Kathi Ember, Tom Warburton,  Kevin Cornell, Tom Hallman, Cora Lynn Deibler. And check out our updated KU CD website, thanks to the efforts of Prof. Dannell MacIlwraith.

Coupon Code? I was kidding, contact KU Admissions Office, tell them I sent you.