So, how have people gone about funding their jewelry arts education?
Of course there is good hard work, but I live in an economic black
hole and most schools cost triple my annual salary so that isn’t
going to do it this time. I am trying to find loans, financial aid,
etc for trade schools like Revere. Revere in particular has no
financial aid and isn’t qualified by the government for traditional
programs like the FASFA. They suggested I take out a personal loan
and that isn’t a great plan for me as I am young, have no credit or
collateral. I would prefer a good ol’ student loan that any Joe shmoe
can get and doesn’t have an outrageous APR based on my non-existent
credit history. I hate the idea that my educational choices might be
limited by the fact that some schools aren’t included in some
government definition of “school”.
They do offer some bench classes. They may also offer some
scholarships although I am not sure any are available for that
class. I believe you can also make payments for your classes instead
of one payment.
You may also want to see if they are holding any of the classes in a
city near where you live.
Can you afford to take a class or workshop, rather than a
degree-type program? When I decided that I wanted to expand my
skills from beads/wire to also include metalsmithing, I knew I
couldn’t afford to pay for a whole program, but in the last year, I
was able to take a fabircation class at Revere and a workshop on
cold connections with Susan Lenart Kazmer. A basic fabrication class
will teach you enough to get you started, and then you can practice
and improve your skills on your own with a few tools. You’ll learn a
lot in just the basic class at Revere, so if you can afford that,
it’s a good start.