Mittwoch, 9. November 2011

Recording arts degree? Film degree? What's it really worth?

Screwmaker blog

Screwmaker's blog entry touches on some of the things you should consider when looking at schools that offer recording degrees. The same questions can also be asked of film degrees and other media arts programs. These programs are typically very very expensive compared to traditional colleges. Post secondary education is probably one of the biggest investments you will make in your lifetime. Probably second only to home ownership. The associated debt will be with you for years to come. So put some thought and consideration behind your decision. No one is watching out for your best interest, least of all the admissions representative at the school.

Who's teaching at Full Sail and what are their qualifications?

Let's take a look at their website...


Seriously Full Sail, this doesn't tell me much about the quality of your instructors. I know all about your "state of the art" facilities, now tell me about the people that deliver the material. And where's the contact information for these people? Or the department?

This is how it's done at a real school.



Each one of these departments lists faculty phone numbers, email addresses or both. 

Full Sail lists no contact information for faculty or departments. Apparently all calls go through a main switchboard. I wonder how many calls get routed directly to an admissions representative.

Here's a short video of the directing class....
We're not talking a couple hundred dollars for a "directing" class. We're talking $2500.

This is graduate level work at Full Sail
or is an advertisement for Full Sail?

Here's a link to flash cards for one of the music business bachelor of science classes (mbbs)
Artist Management - one of the last classes you take.. so it must be an advanced level course.
at $436 per credit hour, this class will cost you over $1700.

Full Sail has graduation ceremonies twelve times a year.

On June 2nd and 3rd, 2011,  Full Sail graduated 530 students. Those students represent approximately $32,590,000 of gross revenue for the school and much of it was in the form of student loans. 


Graduation ceremonies happen twelve times a year at Full Sail. How many paying film jobs are out there? Same question for the recording arts industry.


What I'm getting at here is that many recent Full Sail grads will not be able to find jobs related to their chosen field of education. And do you really need to spend close to $80,000 to learn how to be a grip or production assistant on a film set? How many are going to have the ability to pay back those loans six months from now when the first payment is due?

Recent Consumerist article 

For-Profit Colleges: Targeting People Who Can't Pay

Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Listen to her interview with Bloomberg News investigative reporter Daniel Golden.

Full Sail University Enrollment Agreement

Here is an excerpt from the agreement...
___________________________________________________
FULL SAIL calculates a pro-rated refund for all students who do not complete thirty (30) percent of an enrollment period. Refunds are calculated by determination of the number of weeks of instruction attended by STUDENT  and dividing this figure by the total weeks of instruction required to complete the enrollment period STUDENT has completed. The amount of tuition to be refunded is based on the amount of the enrollment period completed and is illustrated in the chart below.

%Enrollment Period Completed               % Contract Price Refunded
     1-10%    (less than 2.8 weeks)                          90%
  10.1%-20% (less than 5.6 weeks)                        80%
  20.1%-30% (less than 8.4 weeks)                        70%
  30.1%-100% (more than 8.5 weeks)                     0%
____________________________________________________

Typically an enrollment period is seven months (28 weeks) long. A bachelors degree requires the completion of three, seven month long enrollment periods.

So let's talk about days and dollars.... say your tuition per enrollment period is $24,000. The school will break that amount into three payments of $8000 each. First payment is due before the first day of class, second payment is due 30 days later and the third payment is due 30 days after that.

If you complete the first two weeks of class and decide to withdraw, you're still golden, kind of. Full Sail will have to refund you $5600 of your first payment. Two weeks of class will cost you $2400.

Let's move forward to the second month of classes... you've just made your second payment of $8000. You attend a couple of labs and lectures and you're thinking Full isn't a good fit or maybe you're not being challenged enough and you want out. You contact your advisor; hopefully they can see you and get your withdrawal paperwork done quickly (they WILL drag their feet and stall you). You get the paperwork done that first week of your second month and it's only costing you $4800. Since you've already paid the school $16,000 you're entitled to a refund of $11,200.

Let's say your advisor can't see you until the first week of the next month... so you wait. You see your advisor, get your paperwork and withdraw from the school. You sent in your third payment of $8000 a couple days earlier. You've now paid the school $24,000. The advisor dragged his/her feet.... you don't get a penny back from that $24,000!

30% of 28 weeks is 8.4 weeks.... Nine weeks of "education" at Full Sail is going to cost you $24,000.

Would you hire a contractor to work on your house if he required you to sign an "agreement" that had these terms?


Thinking about attending? Take you contract, walk out of that admissions office and go over the contract with an attorney.

Nine Grads talk about their time at Full Sail

Nine men discuss their time at Full Sail.
21 months - the Full Sail experience

Zak Abitz, A. J. Boone, Travor Jardon, Jonathan Leonard, Andrew Marinari, Daniel Shimandle, Andrew Smith, Glen Stewart, James Stratakis

All of them completed the program in twenty one months and graduated in October 2010.

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November 2007 graduates talking about their time at Full Sail and their post-graduation plans.