A Closer Look at VCFA’s Tuition

An MFA gives you dedicated time and support so you can hone your artistic voice.

 

By Brianna Jett
May 23rd, 2025

 

An MFA, or Master of Fine Arts, is an investment in your art and in your future. 

At VCFA, you get more than just a degree. Our low-residency mentorship model means you’ll get more value for your dollar here than at a traditional graduate program. But how do you know if it’s worth the cost?

Before you skip to the numbers, here’s a closer look at what you’re actually paying for with your VCFA tuition. 

What a low-residency MFA gives you:

• Time and space to find your voice
• Freedom to keep your day job 
• Accelerated art creation
• Career and networking opportunities 
• The community you’ve been looking for (and will be with you for life)
• A diverse and social justice oriented education
• A multidisciplinary practice
• The tools to teach 
• Unparalleled resources 

Time and Space to Find Your Voice

Getting an MFA means dedicated time to develop your artistic practice. No more calling it just a hobby—you’re committing to your art.

Here at VCFA, we give you the time, space, and structure you need to tell your story through your chosen art form. 

After two years, you’ll graduate with a deeper understanding of yourself and your creative process. You’ll be ready to tackle any creative or professional challenge that comes your way. 

Whether you write unforgettable stories for children, create breathtaking films, compose music that makes us all feel something, or any other exceptional art—there’s a place for you in one of VCFA’s six MFA programs:

• MFA in Film
• MFA in Graphic Design
• MFA in Music Composition
• MFA in Visual Arts
• MFA in Writing
• MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults

VCFA is designed around the mentor/mentee relationship. In other words, you’re paying for teaching that is tailored to you. 

Every student is paired with an advisor whose job it is to help you tell your story the way you want to. 

Take it from Joshua James Johnson (F ’21), a writer, director, professor, and professional visual effects (VFX) artist, who graduated in 2021 from the VCFA MFA in Film Program: 

“When I first got in the industry, that’s what I wanted to do: tell my own story. I still have my own stories I want to tell, so that’s very much why I went to VCFA.”

No Pushing Pause on Life

Have a day job? 

Great. So do we. 

Low-residency means you aren’t paying to stop living your life. 

Most of our students have careers, many are parents or caregivers, and all have a life outside of VCFA. Here, you don’t have to choose between paying your bills and getting your dream degree. 

Our low-residency MFA model works with and complements the busy life you’re already leading.

“I have a full-time job, which means a full-time responsibility, and yet I’ve been able to find the space to do my craft—to engage with my advisor and with the other students at VCFA… VCFA and the MFA are embedded in my everyday life.” -Diego Antoni (W ‘23)

Accelerate Your Art

How do you grow faster—and learn more—than you ever have before? 

Start an MFA at VCFA. 

Between the rolling deadlines, inspiring lectures and workshops, and guidance from skilled faculty, studying at VCFA is a bit like drinking from a fire hose. (In a good way, I promise.) 

Twice a year, you’ll be welcomed onto campus for a nine-day residency of intensive study. Basically, you eat, sleep, and breathe art free from everyday distractions all while being surrounded by people who speak the same artistic language. Truly, there’s nothing like it. 

This low-residency MFA jam-packs your two years of study with all the knowledge and tools you need to be an expert in your chosen field. 

VCFA’s goal is to teach you how to ask the hard questions necessary to making great art long after you complete your degree. 

Craft Your Career

VCFA also wants to help you build a career that lasts. 

That starts with building a portfolio and gaining the skills that align with your dream career path. We want you to graduate ready to seize every opportunity. 

We’ll also introduce you to the VCFA network. 

Between your fellow students, your faculty, and the thousands of alumnx all over the world, you’ll make connections that last a lifetime. Our students have gone on to become professors, start their own businesses, publish books, and so much more. 

No matter what field you create art in, networking is a vital component of crafting a career. We want to help you make connections and find career opportunities. 

Lori Steel (WCYA ’12) is a 2012 graduate of the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults. VCFA opened doors and led Steel to a new career as a literary agent—just one example of how VCFA launches students into exciting new fields:

“The VCFA MFA laid a strong foundation of both craft and the editorial process that led to subsequent professional opportunities, eventually paving a path to an agenting career. But it is the professionalism, mentorship, and high bar exacted by our WCYA faculty that I hope to emulate as an agent partner with my clients.” 

Beyond the technical mastery, an MFA from VCFA can be transformative. 

We value critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and professionalism—holistic skills that will serve you well in all aspects of life and work. More than anything, we teach resilience. A career in the arts can be demanding, but with the right tools, you can thrive in competitive, and often unpredictable, fields. 

Find Your Community 

“Being part of a writing community—and creating one for others—is one of the greatest joys of the creative life,” says Rebecca Jamieson (WP ’20), a graduate of VCFA’s former MFA in Writing & Publishing program.

It’s hard to put into words what finding a community means to an artist. VCFA is more than just a place to learn. Here, students find friendship, mentorship, and people who speak with the same passion about art. 

For some, this is the first community they’ve found. For others, it’s their second, or third or fourth, family. 

We pride ourselves on being home to a diverse and accepting community. There is space for everyone at our table.  

Yes, you’ll graduate with a cohort of fellow students, but you’ll leave with a community you’ll have forever. 

A community that will support both you and your art. 

“Writing was still hard, but the discipline was joyful. I didn’t feel the crushing weight of fraud or procrastination as strongly. What had shifted? I wasn’t writing alone. I had assignments, deadlines, and accountability. But most importantly: Community. People who cared whether I wrote or not.” –Rebecca Jamieson (WP ’20)

Social Justice Anchor

Art has power—and you have a voice. 

Learn how to use them here at VCFA. 

We encourage all our students, no matter their discipline, to consider the way their art will affect the world around them. 

That often starts with prioritizing diversity. 

Diversity is key to good teaching, fundamental to good learning, and inherent to good art. If we are unable or unwilling to think critically and view the world with an open mind, how can we create anything meaningful? 

Here at VCFA, we are firmly committed to the values of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, both in our daily work as an institution and in our pedagogical mission. 

That mission is also supported by the Center for Arts + Social Justice, a VCFA cornerstone designed to support emerging artists who are creating social good in their communities. 

VCFA’s Center for Arts + Social Justice launched, in collaboration with The Office of the President, the VCFA Assembly series. Established in early 2025, the series is a gathering space that encourages engaged conversation about pressing issues in our global and artistic communities. As VCFA President Andrew said, the series will “spotlight urgent issues, highlight diverse voices, and invite participation from across our programs.”

“…stories rooted in environmentalism and other forms of activism, written for a young audience, are important because we need to be having these conversations at any and every age. They’re important because story has a tricky and subversive way of breaking down the mental walls that keep new ideas away. They’re important because young people are often at the front lines of revolution and changemaking, no matter how our society might tend to demean and shelter them.”–Ty Chapman (WCYA ’24). 

Ty Chapman, an award-winning author and poet, is a recent graduate with the Writing for Children & Young Adults program. During his time in the program, he was chosen as a Center for Arts + Social Justice Fellow. 

Art without borders

VCFA places a high value on art without borders. We are home to both International students and faculty. 

Our faculty work simultaneously as editors, art historians, writers, composers, and designers, to name just a few. Visiting artists and educators from around the world are also woven into our residencies. 

Our students are constantly challenged to think critically about the context in which they are creating. 

Multi-Disciplinary Practice

Most of your education will be one-on-one, focused on your chosen craft. 

However, twice a year, you can embrace the challenge of other art forms. 

Every six months, all six of our programs converge on campus during residency. It’s not unusual to find a writing student attending a music showcase, or a graphic designer discussing visual art with a painter. 

Where else can you rub elbows with some of the best artists in the world? You’ll be surprised how inspiring it is to think outside your comfort zone. 

“Engaging in artistic collaboration for me is like creating an intricate web. Every time, the web is different and unique.”– Damon Honeycutt (MC ’16) 

Damon graduated from the MFA in Music Composition program and went on to collaborate with VCFA MFA in Writing alumnx Shanta Lee (W ’21), on the multimedia exhibition “Dark Goddess: Sacroprofanity.”

Learn How to Teach 

When we talk about the return on investment on VCFA tuition, teaching is often part of the equation. 

At VCFA, we’ll expose you to pedagogies you can one day model in your own teaching.

An MFA is often considered a terminal degree, a requirement necessary to teach at the collegiate level. 

But the skills you’ll develop here will also enhance your credibility as a future freelancer, consulter, and industry professional. 

“As I enter the next stage of my creative and teaching career, full-time tenure-track graphic design professor positions are beginning to present themselves… VCFA’s low-residency model is the perfect program to fit my busy schedule, aspirations, and goals. Its community-focused approach aligns seamlessly with the way I run my organizations, company, and classrooms. 

The emphasis on open communication and the possibilities of cross disciplinary collaboration across graduate programs reflects my own personal and professional pedagogy, making VCFA an ideal environment for my next academic and creative journey.” –Fernando Del Rosario(GD ’26), a current student in the Graphic Design program and a 2025 GDUSA Student to Watch.

Access to Resources 

At VCFA, your tuition also buys you access to some of the best resources available. 

As a student, you’ll have access to VCFA’s incredible library. The library is part of a national network, able to help you source nearly any book you can think of. You’ll also have access to academic journals and the International Music Score Library. On top of that, the VCFA library is also home to past thesis work. In other words, you can tap into the knowledge and expertise of every graduate who has come before you. 

We continue to be one of the only educational institutions in the country devoted entirely to fine arts education through the low-residency model at the graduate level—and we have the resources to support that. 

And the best part? You have access to our library for the rest of your life—for free.

What Will You Create Here?

The only question left to ask is what will you create here? 

We provide the education, the structure, and the tools you need to succeed. We open the door to your future. But who do you become when you walk through it? That’s up to you to decide. 

We can’t wait to find out. 

Invest in your future and apply today or sign up for a no-obligation information session to learn more about VCFA. You’ll be able to meet with faculty and staff from your program of choice.  

Brianna Jett
Author and Marketing Professional
briannajett.com

Brianna graduated in 2022 from VCFA with an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults. Her upcoming novel, Under a Carnivore Sky, is expected in Winter 2026 at Page Street.