Thread by @catharenn

so calarts tuition hit $50k. a thread addressing some arguments & misconceptions about the school 1/18

obligatory disclaimer i’m a second year character animation student, these are my personal opinions, and this info is just what i’ve gleaned from other students/teachers/public meetings with the school president 2/18

first off. tuition is the main source of revenue for the school. it’s used to pay for facilities & operating costs. it increases ~2-4% each year presumably because costs increase. they have to renovate buildings, update/replace equiptment, pay admin, etc 3/18

it’s difficult to lower bc (i’m guessing) they rely so much on it, costs grow every year, and it’s hard to cut corners. even cutting the president’s salary would be pennies in comparison to the funds they need. ravi makes like $300k; functional expenses are like $80mil. 4/18

so currently discussion is around how high to price it, how many students to accept. not to say execs shouldn’t take cuts or funds can’t be distributed more efficiently (it’s been ~75% tuition & 10% fundraising/grants/donations; rebalance that so more comes from the latter) 5/18

it’s a whole system and it’s wholly outdated. it’s gonna take more than one year to fix. i’m glad that we’re getting more transparency and the student body is actually responding & pushing back. my hope is the president & board of trustees listen, and act 6/18

now, the fun stuff

tuition is a massive issue bc it’s basically a class gateway to the industry. for most ppl u have to pass a certain threshold of support & resource to build up the skill to get in, and another threshold to actually afford going (even for 1 year, much less all 4) 7/18

it’s biased toward the middle & upper middle class (& because wealth is distributed unevenly across racial groups, it’s reflected in the racial makeup of the student population too). the same is true for the animation industry, partly because calarts acts as a filter into it 8/18

and w calarts it especially sucks because the character animation program carries a lot of its reputation & prestige, but i’d guess that most character students, myself included, are on some form of financial aid 9/18

also, the success of calarts character animation is due almost entirely to the people in it - faculty, department heads, and students. the head of the school & president have little to no involvement with the day to day working of the program and the art/films we produce 10/18

yet we don’t have updated buildings; we literally can’t expand the program bc classrooms can’t hold over 30 people. they shouldn’t be trying to get funding by accepting more students. if they need more $, it should be the head of the school hitting the streets & fundraising 11/18

we shouldn’t have to suffer overcrowded labs & fifteen years of debt for this school. that’s not a fair price to pay for any education. even if i agreed with the idea of investing now to benefit later, $50k should not by ANY means be a reasonable amount to demand we invest 12/18

“it’s worth it because the prestige guarantees you a job!” no, it doesn’t. calarts doesn’t funnel each of us into a studio & hook us up with a job by fourth year, even if it may seem like it from the outside. in the real world it’s more about your work than your alma mater 13/18

& on that note, yes, calarts holds an incredibly prestigious position. just look at its ranking from animation career review. but “calarts has disproportionate influence on the industry” and “not everyone who goes to calarts is guaranteed a job” are BOTH true statements. 14/18

“then screw calarts, i’ll learn everything i need from twitter threads and youtube tutorials” cool! that’s your prerogative! stick it to the man! but imo the internet can’t substitute for a college environment, and the growth you see under this kind of mentorship & support 15/18

if calarts is your dream school and this is painful to hear, i get it. i love this place to death. but the institution is different from the students, and if you really care then listen to what we, students who live the consequences, who have skin in the game, are saying 16/18

it’s dangerous to put any institution on a pedestal. this is a government of men by men, not by angels. critique is necessary to progress. 17/18

and if you’re just here to shit on us for raising concerns because you don’t like calarts to begin with, u are free to return to the bean face discourse. thx 18/18