Auntie SparkNotes: Free College Conundrum

Dear Auntie Sparknotes,
My problem regards college. As I am currently a senior, I am in the midst of applications and piles of homework and all sorts of things that are stressing me out. But the one thing that is not stressing me out is art.

I'm in the highest level art class at my school and I can honestly say that when things get crazy in my life, art is my refuge. All the schools I am applying to are Art schools and I am really excited to pursue my education. But the problem is that I am financially challenged. After being unemployed for the better part of the last 5 years, my dad managed to get a maintenance job at a nearby private university, and my parents are really putting pressure on me to go there, because I can go there for free. They at least want me to go there for a year or two to save money then transfer out to an art school.

I was totally ok with this plan, until I realized upon searching the school's web site, that not only do they not offer my major, they don't even have a BFA (bachelor of fine arts) program. This means that I would need to enroll in a BA program and I feel like this would totally be putting me on the wrong track. My parents are still pushing me to accept this fate. They make comments about it every once in a while and it really upsets me. It's like they are giving up on me, but at the same time they criticize me, telling me I should be trying harder to get scholarships. But I am trying. I'm really doing everything I can. I spend all my free periods working in the art room on portfolio pieces. When I told my art teacher about this she agreed with me that I don't belong at that school. Also, I can't ditch this nagging feeling that someone could be missing out on an opportunity because of my guaranteed spot at the afore-mentioned university. I feel so helpless and lost in this situation. I don't know who to talk to or what to do. Please help me figure this out.

Before we begin, Sparkler, I want you to know that I completely understand where you're coming from. Like you, I was serious about art in high school. And like you plan to, I majored in art in college. And this is why I hope you'll listen when I say to you, from one art person to another: grow up, forget the BFA for now, and accept that free, private education for the mind-blowingly incredible gift that it is.

It's not that I don't understand; I do! You have a dream, and you have a specific path via which you want to pursue that dream, and that's fine! We all have things we want, and we all have a particular way in which we'd like to get them. But if it's that important, that vital, and that absolutely necessary that you go to This Particular School for That Particular Degree, then your letter would've eventually included a line about how you're willing to take out loans, dig deep for scholarships, and fund your education yourself because it just means that much to you.

Except... that never happened. And instead of taking the principled (if unrealistic) position that you want what you want and you'll do whatever it takes to achieve it, you instead took the position that you want what you want... and you want your parents to do whatever it takes. Even if that means paying for it. Through the nose. When the economy is in the toilet, and your family is in dire straits, and your father broke a five-year stretch of unemployment to work maintenance at a place where one of the few perks is that you can get a great education for free.

Which is to say, please forget for a second about your "track," take a step back to survey the full landscape of this situation, and try to appreciate that it's selfish to dig your heels in and demand that you get exactly what you want, exactly the way you want it, at enormous expense to someone else—all when there's an excellent free alternative right in front of you. And also, that it's short-sighted to get upset and offended and accuse your parents of giving up on you just because they expect you to have some perspective.

Dude, come on. You're better than this.

And as for what to do, try this: stop fixating on a BFA as the end-all, be-all of your future, and start considering the many, many ways in which you could achieve your goals without one. For instance: can you design your own major at the free college, or connect with a professor there who can serve as your mentor? Can you supplement your education with internships at galleries or apprenticeships with local artists? Can you take the money you save on art school and put it toward weekend or summer residencies to pursue your work? Can you negotiate with your parents to attend the free school now, in exchange for some support should you decide to pursue your MFA?

Basically, can you throw aside your rigid plans and get creative with your future?

Take an afternoon to come up with some alternative options, and I know you'll find a path that doesn't involve making your parents pay a hundred thousand unnecessary dollars for an education you could have for free. And while you're at it, try to appreciate the fact that yours is one of the few pursuits in which your educational path just isn't that important. You don't need a BFA track to study art, make art, or pursue a career in art; technically, you don't even need to major in art to do these things. Art will always be your refuge, no matter what. And to make it your life, you just need talent, drive, ambition, the ability to network, and an ego that can really take a beating.

Which, incidentally, is what you need right now. You can consider it practice.

Would you change your college plans for the sake of a free education? Or would you do whatever it takes to get just the education you want? Tell us in the comments! And to get advice from Auntie, email her at advice@sparknotes.com.

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