Digipen questions

Aaron,
You say that school "seems perfect" -- perfect except for the cost. And cost is a VERY big deal that you must not ignore! An awful lot of people have gone to expensive schools and racked up huge debt, and I sincerely hope you won't do that.
Talk to those financial aid people, talk to those banks, talk to your parents, talk to the guidance counselor at your high school (even if you've already graduated). Look at other schools too, and make a decision grid. This forum's FAQs include information about how to choose a school, how to make a decision grid, stuff like that. Some of those other schools might seem less "perfect" but be affordable, and those schools would be a good choice if you can't afford the expensive school.

I would highly prefer to go to Digipen over other schools for the overall experience and that ill be surrounded with people with similar goals. I got the run around from fin aid so i gave up both the school district superintendent and the state advocate both highly recommended I go there if my true passion is game design, none of the banks do school loans in the bank itself around here, and parents aren't a factor. im just seeing if there is people that have gone there or do go there that know any options i have for paying other than to somehow come up with 25k in scholarships every year i know its possible i just dont want to rely on that. I mean if i cant i cant ill go to UW if i have to just not my first choice.

Hey there, im a junior in the rtis program and i may be able to help you out.

So i have had to go through this a few times, i started in 2010 so i pay about $250 less per credit so let that sink in when i give you these estimates. No, most people dont receive scholarships, most people get something called the parent plus loan. You yourself will probably be able to get 4 or 5k in direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans. if you are a washington resident and you apply early, you may be able to get the washington state needs grant. i have gotten it every year. first year was around 5k. last year around 8, then with cutbacks, i was initially not able to get it this year, then just last week they gave it to me, but only 5k. say you snag a couple k for your pell grants and then theres still the 20k problem left over. Thats per year. and thats where the parent plus loan kicks in for you. Your parents and you sign for a whopping load. and then you work your ass off for 4 years and get a good job, or you are totally fucked. Unless your parents are loaded and can handle that sort of thing, but i doubt you would be asking here if thats the case. If you are serious, talk to your parents, try to get accepted, and talk to financial aid directly. Its no good worrying about if you wont get accepted, so do that first, shouldnt be too hard. They take a lot of local people and they have lowered the bar to let more people in to the bigger campus. Good luck, any other questions and id be happy to answer.

how do i get a parent plus loan if ive been on my own since 16 can a guardian sign for it?

im probably going to have to take a quarter or two at the local community college first before i can get accepted i was already told that just because my high school gpa was below 2.0 (had a lot of issues in school that ive fixed) and since my SAT was 1500 not above 1700.

never mind answered my question thank you i didn't think parent plus loan could be signed by anyone willing

nevermind again im screwed.

also if you get that gpa up and take a couple years of college, under some conditions they dont check your SAT's. I did running start and got my AA when i graduated highschool. So when i applied they said they didnt need my SATs because of my college experience. I would encourage you to inquire. and good luck, looks like i wont be meeting you before i graduate. Unless you live in the redmond area, in that case we should go get a beer.

yeah im 20 i screwed around to much in school because of personal issues but technically im considered independent by ward of the court but my grandmother is my legal guardian from what i can tell i have to be dependent to be considered for parent plus loans I live in p town ha i tried to go last year but then this whole financial mess stopped me now im trying to build credit for a private loan from wells but it seems theyll be stopping that soon as well....the fin aid department at digipen i dont rem her name i think she was asian but anyways basically told me if i cant pay i cant pay lol wasnt very useful at all.

I wanna do the BSGD there i heard rtis program is ubber intense more so than the normal super intense clases there

yes rtis is more intense and it has a *higher hiring rate than most of the programs and will lead to better jobs than the bsgd (most likely).

from what they tell me if i find myself liking the over programming side more the classes are so similar the first 2 years between the two that i can transfer into the RTIS program now i just gotta figure a miracle to get it paid.

im probably going to have to take a quarter or two at the local community college first

I recommend you do more than that. Two years would be best.

nevermind again im screwed.

No. You are not screwed.

I meant the quarter or two to get my gpa up to par so that i can try to apply and get accepted into digipen 2 years would be great but there is no programming classes of any type at my local community college and im screwed as far as paying for digipen because of my unique circumstance i emailed fafsa.gov about it thought we ll see.

from what they tell me if i find myself liking the over programming side more the classes are so similar the first 2 years between the two that i can transfer into the RTIS program now i just gotta figure a miracle to get it paid.

Aaron, when you started this thread you were better about your capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. But you've gotten lazier with those things. And that's not good. We encourage posters here (especially in this forum) to stick with good writing habits, because if you develop those good habits now, you'll still have them when you go applying for a job.

I see we're posting in real time here.

I meant the quarter or two to get my gpa up to par so that i can try to apply and get accepted into digipen 2 years would be great but there is no programming classes

I was taking the longer view -- the more education you get at community college, the more your options for the follow-up school widen, and the more your options for a career in games open up. Don't take the narrow view of wanting to do the minimal necessary steps - that could be a shortcut to nowhere.

im screwed as far as paying for digipen[/quote]

There are affordable options (other than that school) that you should not disregard altogether.

Might I suggest broadening your views of the whole education process? Adding some variety to your education helps so much.

Like taking classes in communication, art theory, formal writing analysis, psychology; they all help you to create a more stable base to develop projects from and help you find new aspects of game design and development that you never knew you'd have a passion for.

I'm a student, too, though not at DigiPen and I'm on the eastern side of Washington state. If it weren't for a more broad education and life experience, some of the obstacles my team has faced wouldn't be over come and I wouldn't have discovered as many passions that I now cherish.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say I share the same opinion as Mr. Sloper; the more topics you get education in will broaden the opportunities that open up to you and may change the way you view things in the industry.

Speaking from my own experience, having some different education/life experience under your belt than the others helps out a lot, especially when back at school and on the job.