Hi everyone. I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this in, but I am in the midst of making a life-changing decision right now. I'm not even sure of what I want, so I wanted soompier's advice on this.

I am a first year student at OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design) in Canada, fresh out of high school. In grade 12, I have applied to a couple of U.S. art schools (Pratt, SVA, Parsons, and RISD) and got accept into all of them. Unfortunately, I thought that the tuition was way out of my budget because all those American schools average $50k per year while OCAD is just $5k per year. However during the summer I've regretted my decision in declining all those offers from the States.

Now after attending OCAD for just over a month, I hate all my courses and assignments, and I feel like I'm wasting my time here. The only advantages of attending OCAD are that I can run over to University of Toronto or Ryerson University to see my close high school friends, and going back home as well. I guess the real reason for me attending OCAD is to save money and see my family and friends.

Attending RISD has always been a lifetime goal for me, and being held back from going there merely because of financial issues seem pathetic. I'm applying as a transfer student for Fall 2010, but I'm still unsure if I would go for sure because of the financial issues. The only difference this time is that I'm applying for a couple of scholarships but there is no guarantee that I would receive any.

Do you think that it's worth going into debt for a better school? What would you do if you were in my situation? I would appreciate anyone's advice. Thank you for reading this long thing. P.S. I am majoring in illustration.

Honestly, if you want to go, go. But keep in mind, as an art major...
the big bucks most likely won't be rolling your way.

I see what you mean...this is a serious delima...
I wonder, do you think you could attend RISD through a study abroad program? I'm not sure if that sort of thing happens between Canada and the US, but it should be possible.

It's cheating, but you know, extra education shouldn't be this expensive. I would say look into studying abroad. See if your school can link up with that one. I'm not sure how education works in Candada, but this option should be cheaper, and you can take your basic classes at the cheaper university and take 12 to 15 hours of things focusing on your major at the more expensive unviersity.

Or

you can take your general classes at the cheaper university and transfer to another school. Obviously, you aren't going to really avoid the expense if you decide to transfer, but it's ultimately up to you. I hope that helps a little.

Good Luck!

I would advise you to really see if you'd enjoy your current school first. It sounds like you already have a negative mentality about it, so you're going to have to get rid of that. There are probably a lot of opportunities that you don't know about yet, so maybe explore more ways to get involved on campus. Also, examine why going to RISD is a lifetime goal for you. I personally would rather not go into debt just to attend a school when I could get the same or better education at a school of similar caliber. Good luck!

I personally don't want to go into debt to go to a school I want to go to but in my opinion if it's your dream school I would choose to go there and go into debt since it's your dream school so dream school is my exception
I hope my opinion can help you

btw i agree that taking general class at a cheaper university is a good idea to save money and then transfer there

Wow i hope i can really help you here because i would know what it feels like to be undecided, which puts darkness into your future. i guess i was the same as i was really interested in art, but i found out i could do something better. people have different intentions of going to school. some go for the job, the money, the knowledge. it's kinda a controversy with schools. people say school should teach students to THINK outside the BOX. but anyways, are you 100% positive that art is what your going for? if your yet to experience then that's a diffferent story, your gonna have to try it to see if you like but if it's merely a slight interest, then i think its better if you find out about your interest first then go from there. think about this first because you seem confuse

Wow I know exactly how you feel.
I attended OCAD this September. I was fresh out of high school and really optimistic about the school because it had such a fantastic reputation.
Unfortunately the classes and assignments were a waste of time. I wasn't getting anything from the school.
I dropped out early October. Things were kinda screwed for me because I was living downtown and I had issues with getting someone to take over my apartment lease. Overall it was a real mess.

If you feel like you aren't benefitting from OCAD then you should try another school.
I heard after first year it picks up though, so you could try toughing it out this year and hope that next year it'll be better.

If you do decide to drop out, you don't necessarily have to go to the States for a good education (unless you have the money, or are really set on going there, then do it)!

An alternative though: I hear Sheridan College has a fantastic illustration program!
I've heard a lot of positive things about the school, and I'm personally probably going to apply to the school in the future sometime.

Hope that helps