Let's Talk Money

If you’ve been considering applying but held back because of the tuition cost, I’m speaking to you now. Please apply.

We have a number of scholarships and work-study opportunities, and we work with people to find funding.

I’ve always been the kind of person who applies to creative and educational opportunities only if I know full funding is available. Growing up, there were so many realms of possibility that felt closed to me because of my class background. When I applied to grad school, I knew better than to go into debt for an MFA and I didn’t apply to half a dozen other schools because not everyone was guaranteed funding. In the end, I only applied to three schools: I got rejected from the elite Ivy of my dreams, waitlisted at a state school with a radical program, and accepted to a private school where Maggie Nelson taught. They gave me a hefty amount of scholarship, more than 50%, but when I did the math of living in LA on top of the amount of tuition I would owe, it came out to six figures for just two years. It was an impossible choice: saddle myself with huge student loans to work with a literary hero of mine or not go to school at all.

I tried to bargain with the financial aid office (unsuccessfully) and then did a campus visit. Maggie took me out for green tea, and then told me confidentially she was leaving for USC the following year. I felt released from my desire to say yes to a program that would leave me with more than $100k in student loans. A month later I got a call saying I was taken off the waitlist at the state school and was being offered tuition remission in exchange for teaching.

There were some things that were amazing about where I went to school, and others that weren’t (unpopular opinion: I hate San Diego’s climate). I often still wish I had applied to those other programs whose ethos I admired and teachers I looked up to. If I have learned anything in my life as an artist, writer, and educator, it’s the importance of being imaginative in how I make my life possible.

Abe and I founded this program with the aim to make MFA-equivalent education more accessible. To some people $11k tuition sounds exorbitant. To others, cheap. We want to meet you where you are and have worked hard to find resources to make it happen–here are some of them.

• Our generous donor continues to fully fund the tuition of two BIPOC individuals. There’s no extra application, all you need to do is check a box that says you self-identify as such.
• We have two need-based half-tuition scholarships. All you need to do to be considered for this is fill out a simple financial self-assessment questionnaire (there’s also the option to give us more detail in writing if you like, but it’s not required).
• We have two work study positions, supporting us with Community Engagement and serving as a Program Assistant. Love wrangling groups across time zones to encourage connection? Got design, social media, or web chops? Tell us about it and we’ll consider you for these spots.
• Live in the UK or Canada? Our students have got a great track record securing arts council funding from these countries!
• Many of our alums have use professional development funds to fully or partially fund their tuition, especially those that work in higher education or at larger companies with money earmarked each year for continuing education.
• Found a local grant or alternate pool of money? We’ve written many letters of support for students applying for other opportunities, and are happy to do so for you!

Have any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us. It is an immense privilege to work with each and every one of the students that has come through EDCP so far, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year. Know someone who would be great for EDCP? We mostly operate on word of mouth and every time you talk us up to folks it helps.

Here’s to making your dreams come true, whatever they may be!