Students - How do you earn?

[Almaghest]

I don't know how things normally work over there, but I would say 90% of the people I knew at SCAD subsisted entirely on student loans. For most the workload in any worthwhile program is too much to hold down any kind of job that would make a dent in tuition/housing and it's better to just take out a little extra in loans than be wasting your education trying to work for $8/hour. I know a few people who did have part time jobs, but they really were not making much (maybe $250/week) and it had a serious impact on the quality of their work (some might say you could sacrifice your social life in order to get the most out of your academics AND work, but I wouldn't recommend it since one of the biggest benefits of not being self taught is the opportunity for networking at school.)

[sqrlcub]

Here in the US, where our education isn't nearly as subsidized as the UK, I work a full time job (40 hours a week US) in a completely unrelated field and go to school 3/4 time. Since I already have 1 bachelor's, I don't qualify for federal grant aid and am stuck with a full tuition bill.

I've done some freelance web design here and there but typically I don't have much time between school and work to do a good portion of that type of work. I've been working on a real animation/modeling portfolio in order to help freelance more behind the scenes so I can work in my chosen field.

A good portion of the students I know, don't work within the field except as random freelancers. I know a few professional freelancers and they tend to do a weird mix of commercials, character animation for studios, and contract based game work. All of the latter things take more time than I currently possess due to a full time work schedule.

[MrPositive]

Most of our student have regular 'unrelated' jobs while attending school. However, I'd say around 10% are already working in the field at companies or freelance. I often find the top students jobs that I cannot take on (which is pretty much everything hahaha). You'd be surprised at how much work comes into the schools. So in other words, be one of the top student artists. :)

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