Simply put, I live in England, but I've been looking at Animation Mentor...and it's the finances that concern me. I don't have £7000-9000 in my piggybank (or pot...I don't have a piggybank). However, the catalogue for the website goes on about loan organisations, unfortunately only mentioning one that is for US students only, so oops.
I'm wondering if anyone knows of any organisation that can help me that isn't a bank (where they want you to pay loans back immediately, so you have to have a job and a good income), and is more like the Local Education Authorities here in England which provide loans for university education, loans payable back when you start earning enough (or earlier if you just want to pay it back...although interest is gained on the money, so it makes less to pay back out your own pocket...a little less...)?
I am considering doing an MA instead, which does cost less...but I can't gain the same contacts on the course, and my lecturer also recommends Animation Mentor if I can do it. Of course, I expect people to end up bursting my bubble and saying *but you can get contacts who are just as good without necessarily splashing out several thousand quid*, destroying any argument I might have for Animation Mentor on the contact front...
Anyone able to handle this query? Thanks in advance.
Get to know me more through my blog at http://kaidonni.animationblogspot.com/! :cool:
Hi Kaidonni,
I'd say getting a job is a good idea. I am in class 3 (out of 6) at Animation Mentor right now, and I pay for it term by term. I also work full time.
I am not a wealthy person, so for a year before I started AM, I took on lots of extra freelance jobs in addition to my fulltime job, and saved up. That gave me a head start for paying, and I believe I'll make it through allright.
Many people work full time and do AM. It's hard work, but it can be done. You can also take a class off if you want to save up money in the middle of it.
I hope this helps! It can be done, but for me it invlolved a whole lot of work before I even started
-S
http://www.suetheartist.com
I have queried Sallie Mae UK about loans. At the moment, I have to wait on any info I can secure on an MA in Art and Design too, and decide at the end. I just don't think, with my current abilities, I could really get a job in animation. My portfolio is not very big, and my animation...well, you don't put animation you think is sub-standard on reels. I don't even know how to do a reel breakdown, yet alone have enough good animation to put on a reel.
Hopefully Sallie Mae UK can help out. I don't see why not... I even asked them to return figures on what if I borrowed £6000 (I have some university student loan left), and how long payments can be deferred. Hopefully they can help. *fingers crossed*
Get to know me more through my blog at http://kaidonni.animationblogspot.com/! :cool:
Even if you could go through that loan program, I think payback starts a month after anyhow -- not much different than the bank.
You do know that you can pay just a term at a time, right? That might be more manageable. I got in early enough so that it totalled 13,100 USD I believe (you get grandfathered into your price) but that was 2 grand at a time. It helped out when I had to take a leave of absence after the 5th term.
Contacts and a real-live active career services department and placement program are nice, but the presentation of materials, the assignment format, and the fact that they're out to help and cater to people instead of acting like a bureaucratic business are the biggest perks to me.
I would say, as you can see in a million other posts here, that it will help if you go there just as any education does, but not going would never keep you from your goals if the fire under your ass burns bright enough =)
I am getting myself out of a lazy rut, and of course I have to forgive myself for kinda screwing uni up and move on...
I'd prefer being able to...I dunno...have the ability that if need be, I'd be able to pay £8000 immediately, and then only have to worry about how I divide that lot up into the actual payments so that I can pay each installment without worrying about the next...
My uni loan remains at £2,579...that might be enough for one, maybe two, terms at AM, but after that...I'd have to find a way to pay for it somehow...maybe a part time job, over the course of 12 weeks...LOL...am I, er, being crazy there?
If that was possible, it may be a very good idea, in fact. I wouldn't sign up immediatey, I'd spend a little while getting settled into a part time job and doing my own animation and drawing/sketching on the side, then I'd try to sigh up for AM. Just getting myself out of the lazy rut first, into something that provides me with financial support...then I can worry about this course.
But I also have to think about the MA, and getting funding for that. I am going about that...when the guy at uni replies (been trying to get hold of him all day...knocked on his door, phoned a couple of times...nothing...and he is meant to be in today...). My lecturer did say he was hard to get hold of. LOL!
What are my avenues here, though, what would people recommend? What is realistic? I suppose getting work over the summer, and work experience, will help me get off my ass, and I'll continue my animation, etc, like I said.
Get to know me more through my blog at http://kaidonni.animationblogspot.com/! :cool:
Thanks for the information!
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