angeliexists
shorthanded
davidasposted
Dan+
an update of sorts
Posted by angeliexists on March 27, 2008
I am looking forward to next Thursday.
Ed and I will be attending a BFA show opening exclusive to the transfer students who were recently admitted into SAIC. We will take a look at what current students are doing, discuss art and school, and tour the campus.
That evening, we will attend the student show at Oakton (OakArt). Our dream drawing assignments are on display. My mom has been wanting to meet with us, so I’ve invited her to attend.
Of course the best part of this is that Ed and I have the day off of work.
davidasposted said
How did it go?
angeliexists said
The breakdown of our day at the school:
We started touring the school around 9 AM. Ed and I were touring with two graduating BFA students and two future transfer students. (The number of transfer students who attended was very small, and many had at least one guest.) The school looks great. It’s open 24 hours. There is an amazing amount of equipment that I could borrow or rent from the school along with much more that I can use on campus 24 hours a day. Not only can I work across departments as I want, but I can take, for instance, a dye mixing class as an alternative to lab science.
The BFA show was great. There was good work and lousy work. It’s an important show. Apparently, there aren’t many schools that do this kind of show for their BFAs and later MFAs. These are highly trafficked shows, and only 250 students made it in. Ed and I could both easily compete with what we saw. We also heard from some of the artists who could not only not articulate the purpose of their piece very well, but they were clearly making up a lot of crap. As Ed’s and my drawing teacher would say, some of them were “blowing intellectual soap bubbles.” There were even a couple pieces that reminded me of what some of the less recognized students at my high school did.
The things I have to think about:
The commute can be rough (especially when I am dragging work to and from home).
- I will either need to live closer to school or weigh the cost of driving and parking or keep a less intimate connection with the school.
The school is almost entirely Mac.
- I would need to familiarize myself with it or possibly make the switch.
I won’t get as much time with Ed.
- I am finding it hard to give up our current level of interaction, as I want to keep expanding on it – especially as we pursue our degrees.
I still don’t know how much money will be offered, so this may all be moot.
- I was told that award letters would be out by the end of March. When I asked yesterday, however, I was told that they would be out by the end of this week.
- I can wait, but Fred and my mom are constantly asking me for updates, so I can’t put it out of my head. I’m starting to obsess over this now.
- Fred is fairly certain that I will get his scholarship. It’s 5k for juniors and 10k for seniors.
- This is still a 30k+/year school, and supplies for an art track tend to be much higher than those for a more academic track.
To get the most out of this, I would need to immerse myself in the culture.
- Proximity to the school would help quite a bit.
- Dorm living is out of the question. The cost is more than our current place and the space is typical for a dorm.
- I am considering going through one of the apartment locating services to see if there is anything closer and cheaper with the possibility of convertible space to balance out the smaller space.
Oakton:
In any case, we got out of there early and made it to Oakton on time for our show. It was very crowded. Ed’s piece was hung directly above mine on a neat little end cap. They looked good. It was too chaotic in there to really do a whole lot, though. Even so, we left feeling good.
Tonight:
Ed and I are meeting up with an old art connection of mine from high school. He has a show opening. I feel like this little thing is important. It will keep a line open with him, show me how he does what he does and if he is succeeding, etc.
davidasposted said
I’m glad; it reads like your day went well. Regarding the things you have to think about, if you don’t mind me responding to them:
1. Do not worry about switching to a Mac. I learned the intricacies of mine in a week or so of minimal use, and your school with provide you with all the utilities you need. If you need others, you know where to find them online.
2. You absolutely need to immerse yourself in the culture of the school; half of your ‘education’ will consist of making friends and connections, and it will become an excellent opportunity to try out your schmoozing skills. Hone them at school; I suspect they will become twice as important in the art world as in my side of academia.
3. Have you checked out the financial package you can receive from the federal government, yet? What do you mean by ‘convertible space’?
- – -
I promise to call soon. Just need to get through a few more days… I’m kinda in crisis mode right now.
angeliexists said
Part Two:
1. I can get a relatively cheap iMac instead of switching to an admittedly fancier notebook. This will allow me to be okay with buying another tool to use at home.
2. The decision to move it very much up in the air right now, I’ll go on below. Convertible space means loft-type space, open areas we can sub-divide or change on a whim, rooms that could be repurposed, etc.
3. The financial aid available from the government is compiled through the school. I had filled out my FAFSA as I was setting up my first meeting at the SAIC. I will go on about this first, because I received my financial aid letter (finally) today.
Financial Aid:
$3,500 Subsidized Stafford loan
$4,000 Work/Study potential income
$11,000 Portfolio Merit Award Scholarship
$3,000 Transfer Student Grant
$5,000 Discover Chicago Endowment
That means I have $19,000 free money. I’m happy to see a Stafford amount, because I was under the impression that we couldn’t get a subsidized loan. I will probably turn down work/study because my current job is more valuable, and it may open up more Stafford money. It’s not guaranteed I would have a job available to me at the school anyhow.
With a loan helping to fund the rent, it could help keep some assets liquid. I could possibly defer or change the car loan as well. I still have to meet with a bank rep to discuss my options and ask the school what I can do the the money (i.e. any deferment options, etc.).
Moving:
I’ve been looking at space on the west side and south loop. It just so happens that with the poor housing market, there are many recently converted condos that have reverted back to affordable rental units. Regardless of this, our management company seems to think it’s reasonable to raise our rent $45/month in addition to the $30/month from last year. Dan and Ema apparently live in a rent-controlled building, so they’ve seen a much smaller change over their three years.
Ema is telling me that I can take the local bus to school, make it there in under 30 minutes, and get dropped of right in front. I’ve been thinking I’d need to be closer because of the commuting times by el (which are over an hour apart from a mile walk). So this merits rethinking. I will keep an eye on our current neighborhood. Dan keeps reminding us that there is a place in their building.
For now, I still plan on scheduling appointments at a few places. The west side offers some very nice places with good amenities for well under what we pay here, so it’s worth looking into. Our suburban commute would just have us further south on 94, but living much closer to it.
Who knows what will happen in the next month. All I know is that I’m petrified of hiring another moving company, but it is necessary considering the job, our free time, and time we have to move.
But 19,000 – that’s pretty cool, eh?
angeliexists said
Part 2.5:
I showed the financial paperwork to Novy. He suggested that I write a grant proposal to his foundation for extra funding. I need to come up with approx 11,000 more to cover my costs for tuition alone. Any suggestions?
I’m also thinking of asking our neighbor for help. She teaches a grant proposal class at the SAIC. I just emailed her last night to share the news.
Ed read over the paperwork, and he believes I won’t be able to defer any of the award money. So, I’ll be looking into the best way to propose a part-time schedule for myself or a work-at-home (sometimes) arrangement. I don’t know how well this will go over, so I need to be careful and develop a decent plan before proposing.
angeliexists said
Latest news…
I received my credit evaluation. Apparently, I will only need to complete 60 credit hours. As opposed to the estimate of 2.5 years, I’ll only be putting in two (significant savings).
I have a class to take over the summer at Oakton to complete my AA degree (just to go ahead and complete it). I’m in correspondence with a counselor to check into this further.
Just after I already talked myself out of it, I’ve found that I won’t have to buy a mac on my own. One will be purchased for me and given to me at a new student session before fall classes. This is required, and adds a nice $2,000 bill to my total tuition. It will come loaded with all of the software I could ever want.
As of right now, the plan is to stay in our apartment and do a major space overhaul. This will make it feel new and open up some space. We’re also going to try to work with the management company to not raise our rent so much. Ema told me that the local express bus would get me to school in a third of the time it would take on the el. With this taken care of, I realized that I was just shopping for a new place because I wanted a change, better deal, and I was pissed at our management company.
Let us know if you guys plan on coming down this summer (to the best of your knowlege). It will help us plan.