News

This academic year marks the complete curriculum switch to a four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program at The Cleveland Institute of Art, sparked in part by a commitment to reduce the overall cost of the degree. With this change, the average debt of 2009 graduating students who enrolled in CIA’s four-year degree is 23% less than the average debt of previous five-year students.

In addition, CIA has seen further reductions in student debt over the last year including:
• 10% reduction in private loan debt assumed by CIA students
• 7% reduction in overall debt per CIA student
• 12% reduction in first-year student private loan debt

These numbers indicate that CIA students do not need to borrow as much due in part to more effective guidance from CIA’s Office of Financial Aid in securing non-loan assistance, as well as more aggressive scholarship awards to new students.

Annually, CIA awards more than $7 million in scholarships and grants to our students, who number just over 500. And while in school, many CIA students are awarded work-study positions, veteran’s assistance, as well as merit-based awards. In fact, CIA offers the prestigious President’s Traveling Scholarships to graduating seniors, and remains one of the few—if not the only—art schools to offer these scholarships upon graduation to fund students’ travel and study related to their artistic interests.

If you are a student or parent who would like to find out more about funding a CIA education, visit cia.edu/financialaid.

CIA students go on to continue their studies in top graduate programs, work at Fortune 500 companies, start their own successful businesses, exhibit their work internationally, and more. Hear from some of those successful young alumni in videos profiling their exciting careers at cia.edu/alumniprofiles.




Related content:

CIA Awards Scholarships to Scholastics Winners

Other CIA Scholarships and Awards

External Scholarships

Departmental Awards
The Yellow Ribbon Program for U.S. Veterans