2024 Best Colleges for Digital Arts

SUMMARY

Going to school for Digital Arts is not only a valuable choice, but typically an essential first step for students wanting to begin a career as a digital art director, a graphic designer, or a photographer. In fact, digital arts is a very rare degree coming in at the 164th most popular major. Last year alone, there were 1,650 digital arts diplomas received. In-state tuition for digital arts at private institutions is, on average, 4.5 times more pricey than their public rivals.

With just 99 institutions having programs for digital arts you could have limited options as to the institutions which will have a degree program for you. If you're looking to surround yourself with other digital arts students, look at universities in Florida which have the most undergraduates admitted to digital arts annually. More generally, the top region to major in digital arts is in the Southeast region with University of Central Florida, University of Florida, and Full Sail University best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection for the top conference to study digital arts is the American Athletic Conference with University of Central Florida representing the conference. From our extensive list of the best colleges, our choice for the best university for digital arts is University of Southern California.

The best school does not have to be the best school for you. There can be a bunch of factors to weigh when selecting school. Things such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food could sway your feelings on where to go to university. At authority.org, we weighed the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are interested in which digital arts school boasts the top campus, the answer is Northeastern University. If, for example, you are primarily interested in which university is home to the finest campus, we have an entire list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through professor reviews, student reviews, government databases, and more to compare each major in an unbiased and informative way. Here you can find our comprehensive list for the universities with the best student life&nbspand from that list, our pick for the school with the best student life for digital arts is University of Florida. Curious why? Continue reading to find out more about our top selections. Many of our picks just might surprise you.

If expense is a significant factor in your decision on where to go to school, you might consider avoiding University of Southern California. University of Southern California&nbspappears to be our most expensive university for digital arts, at least for out of state enrollment. We do have an entire list of the most expensive&nbspuniversities that could put the cost at University of Southern California&nbspinto perspective. Additionally, you could be interested to know that digital arts is the 243rd most expensive major in the nation, with an average associated cost of $27,800. On a broader scale, the most costly state for digital arts in the country is District of Columbia with tuition and fees at the main college, George Washington University, of $54,453. Even more broadly, the most expensive region of the country for digital arts is the Far West region which is best demonstrated with Otis College of Art and Design with a cost of $45,200, University of Southern California with a cost of $57,256, and Pacific Northwest College of Art with a cost of $39,375.

Our cheapest region for digital arts is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Dixie State University with a cost of $14,976. In better news, the most affordable school for digital arts is SUNY Cortland. Authority.org's entire list of the most affordable schools can be found here.

In-state attendees can anticipate paying about $9,000 for a degree in digital arts. That price grows dramatically to an average of $21,700 for the out-of-state public-school undergraduate. As such, you might be interested in our choice for the college constituting the best value for digital arts: University of Southern California. Here you can see our comprehensive list about the universities we see as being the best value&nbspoverall. Bear in mind, this list is based on being an out-of-state student. A discussion of value changes when in-state tuition costs are considered, as such, we are using out-of-state tuition as the baseline.

Earnings for digital arts students can vary, but within two-years of completing the major students will often make around $50,800. There is a lot of variation in earnings potential; highest paid earners can enjoy pay up to $89,600. Right out of college, the lowest earning positions within the digital arts field make $29,000, which could be worse. The top earning grads from digital arts have come from University of Southern California&nbspand if you are looking for universities with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.

The prevailing diversity of digital arts is quite high, being within the 85th percentile of all programs. The university with the highest composite diversity for digital arts is Maryland Institute College of Art&nbspand here you can find our comprehensive list for the schools which have the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of the Digital Arts major only ranks in the 70th percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is actually above financial diversity, in the 79th percentile. White undergraduates make up the largest share at 52% of students studying digital arts. Additionally, 51% of scholars pursuing a digital arts major are women.

The median ranking for digital arts professors is 4 stars, a rating which is right on the median score for all majors; which is a fine. If you are searching for the most popular digital arts professor in the nation, consider looking up Andy Weeks at Valencia College. This might be shocking, but the highest ranked digital arts professors according to students come from University of Central Florida. As we consider data beyond just rankings it becomes clear that the school with the overall best instructors for digital arts is Fordham University. One can find more detail on our ever evolving ranking methodology of the best overall professors here, along with some of the best instructors in the country.

Finally, the hardest university to get into for digital arts is University of Southern California. While we think of this list more as a novelty, we do have a comprehensive list of the hardest colleges to get into. But, we hope you understand that considering university from context primarily built on superlatives can cause problems. We encourage you to explore our other pages on different schools and peruse a few of our informative background articles on important details to look out for as you continue your university search.