I did my PGD in photography back in 2012 (not in the UK though). I had a background in human resources and a steady job but just wanted to do something more with my photography and hence did the PGD. I hoped to start a Freelance career in photography back then and left my job to go all in. Now almost at the end of the program, I realized I had no interest in commercial work and wanted to pursue more conceptual and fine art photography. That was the moment of truth for me when I found out there is no career in fine art photography. Luckily I had education and experience in another field which brought me back to reality. I have been photographing passionately on the side and building my work slowly. It's a tough grind and the colleges and institutions don't prepare you for the harsh realities of when you graduate from an art school. Very very few make it and it's almost always not because of the work they produce but rather they have the skills to market themselves and build upon their social skills.
So doing my master's degree in photography was both one of the best things I have done and also one of the most stupid. Certainly, I wouldn't recommend doing a masters degree, if you want to be a professional photographer, as I think there are much better alternatives, which cost a lot less, which will prepare someone to work in the industry much better. The reason I did my master's was partly for redemption because my BA didn't go the way I hoped (23+ years ago). I wanted to do my fellowship, and the practical side of doing a master's would help*. The photography industry was going through a torrid time, and I had hardly any work coming in. I also love photography and I was thinking of doing some teaching. When it comes to the positives and negatives. The positive is you can learn a huge amount about the history of photography and whilst most people think they are creating something unique, the honest truth is most stuff has been done before. I found the university Library to be amazing, and the books were so inspiring. It was also great to see other students in the library. The staff were incredibly kind and really cared about the students. The support that I got made a massive difference and I would never have got the grade I did without it. Universities encourage students to be creative and to try things they have never done before. When it came to the theory of photography, the staff were very good. Sadly, there were some downsides to university. It felt like UCA was just taking anyone on for their photography course (It was more about making money). Many of the students doing the master's degree had no idea how to take a photo or use a camera. Some had never done photography, and the quality of work they created, while creative, was technically very weak. Education is not geared toward getting students into work. When I speak to professional photographers, they unanimously say that the portfolios they get sent are poor, and when they get students in, they have no idea how to use photography equipment properly. While I thought the technicians were really lovely, there were problems. They were great at technical knowledge, like film photography, but when it came to lighting and practical photography, there were big gaps in their knowledge*. The equipment was generally good, but there were certain things that never should have happened. The university didn't have a good stock of backgrounds, and when the MA students were doing their final projects, there was not one white background. This was completely unacceptable. We were told to use the downstairs studio, but those were being used to photograph all the fashion students' portfolios, so they were unavailable to the photography students. Having worked in the industry for years before I did my master's. I found the course to be incredibly fulfilling and frustrating. Yes, I did learn a huge amount, but I also got into a lot of bad habits when it came to technique, and whilst the freedom I had was in some ways great and I was able to concentrate on the areas, I felt I was weakest in (Light female subjects and shooting colour photography). It is only now, a year after I finished my masters, that I feel I have got back to producing the quality of work I did before I did my masters degree. I think education needs to reassess how it works with practical subjects. College education is currently in a dreadful state, and the quality of work I see coming from students is, at best, subpar. Colleges really need to be the place for students to learn how to use equipment properly, but all they are teaching is creativity, and not very well. When I speak to photographers who went to college, 30, 40 years ago. They said the industry was completely different, it was geared towards, bringing students out ready to work. Universities and colleges need to get back to trying to achieve this. If I was running a course. I would want every student to learn business and marketing because that is a massive part of being a professional. Every student should know how to set up a camera. They should know the basics lighting (and ideally more). They should be able to edit up to a high level using Lightroom/Photoshop/C1P. They should be creative, but learn to be creative in a practical way. I would like to see more collaborations between universities and professional associations. * I am not blaming the technicians; one was good, and the other was okay. But they needed more practical training (which they could get externally).
I'm from the US but currently doing an MA online through a school in London. It's pricey as an international student, but convenient as it's remote. It has opened up a whole new world in terms of understanding how to shoot features, undertake long term projects, get grant funding, work with museums and galleries - art school stuff. I also pay professional working mentors to understand the specific publications I am interested in working with as well as how to get brand sponsorships, to understand both traditional and entrepreneurial forms of funding. My background has been travel/wildlife/underwater photography, more of a hobbyist, but working with Getty and some media experience. I took the MA to develop my craft, make work that was more publishable as well as teach as part of many freelance things I do. I am not taking out loans and I know university teaching means adjunct. I'm not there yet but I think I am realistic.
Currently on my 4th year to get my bachelor's degree in photography in Greece. Generally what was said in the video also apply to Greece, except that universities are free and we don't have to pay anything. But still, the majority of people drop out sooner or later and those that keep studying end up doing other jobs that have no connection to photography. Best thing I can recommend is try to do side projects/find jobs relevant to photography while studying to build up some short of portfolio by the time you finish. It's better to have something rather than nothing on your resume.
@@zalogiannis wow! Free! Well that changes everything, it's the marketisation of higher education that's messed it up in the UK. I'm trying to compute how you have similar issues to the UK even when the courses aren't run as a business?
There is just so much I could say about this. I was a full-time academic but in my mid-50s they closed my Arts/Humanities dept. Subsequently, perhaps foolishly I did an MA Photography. Where to start? With the closure of the local Art schools where people were taught the skills to undertake work in their chosen discipline. Then no sooner were they swallowed up by the Polytechnics than the Polys became Universities. Studio based subjects are expensive to teach because they require space and other resources. The Research Assessment Exercise and its descendants prioritised research over teaching so the staff had to do the same. Teaching students about 'ideas' became preferable to teaching them how to paint, sculpt, photograph, because it's what the lecturers get paid/promoted for and it has the additional benefit of being inexpensive (lecture theatres cost less than studio space). So in photography for example, where there's no really serious research going on, we find staff constantly recycling ideas from Sontag, Berger, Barthes etc.
I don't have a degree of any description, though I have over 50 amateur years behind the lens. But problem solving is my thing, and the way to problem solve is work out what you want to achieve, first. You can throw all sorts of what you think are solutions at a problem, but if you haven't worked out your end goal, there's a good chance you won't get the result you wanted. For example, what do you want to learn and what sort of photography do you want to do? What other skills (examples: languages, business, self promotion, a driving licence) do you need? What is the most cost effective and time effective solution; how much time and money can you afford? Is it better to go into huge debt paying for education or is it better to not earn very much at first? Do the sums. Good luck.
I finished my Diploma in '99 and my Bachelors part-time by 2010. All my lecturers were people who have never worked as working' photographers full-time, bar one who was a photojounalist for a while. Their idea of the commercial world was incredibly idealistic and out of touch, and one cannot blame them,... but It is indeed a case of teaching is an easier option than hitting out as a freelancer. It couldn't prepare me for real life. Another issue is that art courses don't bring in much by way of research grants and government finance allocations for every post graduate article and research project,... hence their pay comes under pressure.
@@danienelphoto the pay as a lecturer is dire, like really dire. Whatever the lecturers are getting paid is it worth it for the amount of dirt they are having to eat from all sides? I think in a way the universities know the academics have nowhere else to go, hence they exploit them and push them around. I think it comes as a surprise to senior management at a university when the academics push back. But the smart (and desperate) academics have to keep their mouth shut. Half-bloods like myself don't. Like a Horatio in the danish court you are an honest outsider as you have one foot firmly in the photo industry.
@@PicturesOnMyMind Haha, yes, if you are not someone to blindly toe the line, bureaucracy will not work well with you - especially someone who jas survived as a freelancer! South Africa's lecturers don't get paid a bundle, but in most cases it is a reasonable amount with some benefits. That is better than 80% of the freelancers who even make it past 3 years will make, but that is over here. Sure, the possible income as a freelancer is much higher, but the allure of a steady income as a young graduate is big. That is why I agree with your views in the video, in that the system (for a number of reasons), is a bit broken. It creates over indebted graduates, who are not prepared by experienced professionals, for an industry with no formal employmemt, except that of teaching others - like you said. Where I do encourage this, though, is where said graduate is enthusiastic about teaching, even more than the art itself, for that is what their career will be. A great teacher doesn't need to be accomplished, as much as an accomplished artist is not necessarily a good teacher.
I did an BA, MA and am now on a PhD and haven't spent a penny on any of those. The BA and MA were funded and I am doing the PhD in Finland which has free higher education. The BA and MA were is Ireland btw in 2010 and 2018. It would probably be difficult to access arts council funding without the piece of paper from a degree without having a significant portfolio. I would largely agree with what you're saying here, the focus at the University where I am is on how many peer-reviewed papers can you produce in a year. I am a practicing image-maker, who did freelance work in the past, but yeah, it's definitely a struggle and there is no way I could do it if I took on that amount of debt.
In fairness, I think the one I got for my MA was right place right time more than anything. After my PhD I have no idea, I thought I would stay in acandemia but the further I get into it the less I like what I am seeing around me. I teach basic photography courses now as it's difficult to get anything else in Finland and I will continue doing socially engaged arts projects with different communities which is a really rewarding experience, as long as you can get them funded. Let's see what happens after that, but definitely will keep producing work!
Excellent episode, thanks! Suggested connexions with YT photographers who have made useful observations along these lines: Photographic Eye, Daniel Milnor and Cam Mackey. Also, the Democracy At Work YT channel by Professor Richard Wolff.
At the beginning of last year I started doing the OCA BA course - the fees have increased 25% both years! It's almost in line with a bricks and mortar uni now and the OCA should be a 'no fills' option. now considering stopping once I finish the current module, or at least continue with the next one and finish the level. Not sure what extra we get for the increases, I'd be less bothered if the staff were getting the money but I"m sure the money goes elsewhere like to the OU (the OU acquired the OCA) or on 'systems'. The staff are great btw
@@bcremin1 yeah I think that's the tragedy is that the teaching staff usually are great. The way it's set up theres zero time to work on lectures, their drowning in admin (even though there's never been more administrators) and if anything goes wrong the lecturers are the first to go. I think that's why the senior management and course leaders are so terrified.... They are scared of the students. Where as generally the academics who are teaching love the students... As they remember being one themselves. Thank you for sharing your story. As a slimy uni manager once said.... "it's just business".
I retired from a University some 8 years ago. I taught a science subject. And the issues you outline in arts teaching was/is present in the sciences too. Increasing numbers of administrators with no knowledge or experience of any subject area "deciding" how courses were to be run and how they should be taught. Usually coming up with some fashionable technique which was wholly inappropriate for the subject and/or the student cohort. Actually I don't think the issue at the top level is really Vice Chancellor's being paid £700K. The problem comes from having a deputy VC, a Head of Student experience, a Head of research funding, a Head of X, a Head of Y...…, a Dean of Faculty, a Deputy Dean of Faculty etc etc all weighing at around £100-150k; each with an office suite, a dedicated PA, top of the range computer kit (which they couldn't use/didn't need just to send email), top of the range iphone, Ipad, first class rail and plane travel, dedicated driver, mileage allowances, health insurance … the list goes on and on. Universities in the UK sadly don't provide the experience they once used to. Increasingly students are starting to see that the cost-benefit analysis has more cost than benefit.
Not a recent graduate (finished Uni in 2009) but think very luckily I was one of the last years to finish before the fees went crazy. I couldn’t imagine even thinking about going to Uni now in the modern day with those prices. Also with the rise of the internet and information just so readily available now I don’t know what the real benefits would be other than having physical access to Kit to learn with to find out what suits your practice. We never learned anything about the business side of photography which is still something I struggle with even this far down the line.
@@jamesmeasom6790 yes, it's so different now. Such a huge amount of money and how pretty much every uni just put their fees at the top whack, with no reflection of your earnings given the subject you are going to study.
Going to photo school is one of the singular worst ideas any artist or commercial artist could make. Never spend a dollar on education that is not required for employment. Ask anybody who consults with business and ask them if it is a good idea to start your life - and your business - with massive debt. Not gonna find many folks who would think that makes sense.
This article pretty much sums it up voicesofacademia.com/2024/04/05/its-not-your-fault-that-academic-life-is-getting-harder-by-glen-ohara/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFA_zpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVXT-eBitvlBVjEoMhR48roFJkZLGxTwNqOQp4FJ7UuyphNzPD4eJC34HQ_aem_tWyW-y9ghuDWw8T09NdA8Q
Was the tumble dryer on? :D If you're a Spanish speaker, Julian Baron a couple of months ago launched an online school. It's affordable. A year ago I did a recorded course about photobooks with Mariela Sancari on platform called Domestka and it was excellent. Exceeded my expectations :)
The big universities in the US are failing because they are teaching marxist political indoctrination as their primary goal. Degrees are largely worthless because the graduates have largely been taught rubbish totally unrelated to their degrees. This means you have a lot of professors getting paid to teach underwater basketweaving and other useless 'subjects.' A degree in the US is really a degree in how to exploit nepotism. Point being, as someone who rund a photography business, I will hire a self taught photographer with talent before a university graduate with a degree. I have found that degreed individuals in non- technical fields have a sense of entitlement imparted upon them by 'education.' Essentially, in the US, degrees have been reduced to "mum and dad had the money to buy baby a degree."
I did my PGD in photography back in 2012 (not in the UK though). I had a background in human resources and a steady job but just wanted to do something more with my photography and hence did the PGD. I hoped to start a Freelance career in photography back then and left my job to go all in. Now almost at the end of the program, I realized I had no interest in commercial work and wanted to pursue more conceptual and fine art photography. That was the moment of truth for me when I found out there is no career in fine art photography. Luckily I had education and experience in another field which brought me back to reality. I have been photographing passionately on the side and building my work slowly. It's a tough grind and the colleges and institutions don't prepare you for the harsh realities of when you graduate from an art school. Very very few make it and it's almost always not because of the work they produce but rather they have the skills to market themselves and build upon their social skills.
So doing my master's degree in photography was both one of the best things I have done and also one of the most stupid. Certainly, I wouldn't recommend doing a masters degree, if you want to be a professional photographer, as I think there are much better alternatives, which cost a lot less, which will prepare someone to work in the industry much better.
The reason I did my master's was partly for redemption because my BA didn't go the way I hoped (23+ years ago). I wanted to do my fellowship, and the practical side of doing a master's would help*. The photography industry was going through a torrid time, and I had hardly any work coming in. I also love photography and I was thinking of doing some teaching.
When it comes to the positives and negatives. The positive is you can learn a huge amount about the history of photography and whilst most people think they are creating something unique, the honest truth is most stuff has been done before.
I found the university Library to be amazing, and the books were so inspiring. It was also great to see other students in the library.
The staff were incredibly kind and really cared about the students. The support that I got made a massive difference and I would never have got the grade I did without it.
Universities encourage students to be creative and to try things they have never done before.
When it came to the theory of photography, the staff were very good.
Sadly, there were some downsides to university.
It felt like UCA was just taking anyone on for their photography course (It was more about making money). Many of the students doing the master's degree had no idea how to take a photo or use a camera. Some had never done photography, and the quality of work they created, while creative, was technically very weak.
Education is not geared toward getting students into work. When I speak to professional photographers, they unanimously say that the portfolios they get sent are poor, and when they get students in, they have no idea how to use photography equipment properly.
While I thought the technicians were really lovely, there were problems. They were great at technical knowledge, like film photography, but when it came to lighting and practical photography, there were big gaps in their knowledge*.
The equipment was generally good, but there were certain things that never should have happened. The university didn't have a good stock of backgrounds, and when the MA students were doing their final projects, there was not one white background. This was completely unacceptable. We were told to use the downstairs studio, but those were being used to photograph all the fashion students' portfolios, so they were unavailable to the photography students.
Having worked in the industry for years before I did my master's. I found the course to be incredibly fulfilling and frustrating. Yes, I did learn a huge amount, but I also got into a lot of bad habits when it came to technique, and whilst the freedom I had was in some ways great and I was able to concentrate on the areas, I felt I was weakest in (Light female subjects and shooting colour photography). It is only now, a year after I finished my masters, that I feel I have got back to producing the quality of work I did before I did my masters degree.
I think education needs to reassess how it works with practical subjects. College education is currently in a dreadful state, and the quality of work I see coming from students is, at best, subpar. Colleges really need to be the place for students to learn how to use equipment properly, but all they are teaching is creativity, and not very well.
When I speak to photographers who went to college, 30, 40 years ago. They said the industry was completely different, it was geared towards, bringing students out ready to work. Universities and colleges need to get back to trying to achieve this.
If I was running a course. I would want every student to learn business and marketing because that is a massive part of being a professional. Every student should know how to set up a camera. They should know the basics lighting (and ideally more). They should be able to edit up to a high level using Lightroom/Photoshop/C1P. They should be creative, but learn to be creative in a practical way.
I would like to see more collaborations between universities and professional associations.
* I am not blaming the technicians; one was good, and the other was okay. But they needed more practical training (which they could get externally).
I'm from the US but currently doing an MA online through a school in London. It's pricey as an international student, but convenient as it's remote. It has opened up a whole new world in terms of understanding how to shoot features, undertake long term projects, get grant funding, work with museums and galleries - art school stuff. I also pay professional working mentors to understand the specific publications I am interested in working with as well as how to get brand sponsorships, to understand both traditional and entrepreneurial forms of funding. My background has been travel/wildlife/underwater photography, more of a hobbyist, but working with Getty and some media experience. I took the MA to develop my craft, make work that was more publishable as well as teach as part of many freelance things I do. I am not taking out loans and I know university teaching means adjunct. I'm not there yet but I think I am realistic.
Currently on my 4th year to get my bachelor's degree in photography in Greece. Generally what was said in the video also apply to Greece, except that universities are free and we don't have to pay anything.
But still, the majority of people drop out sooner or later and those that keep studying end up doing other jobs that have no connection to photography.
Best thing I can recommend is try to do side projects/find jobs relevant to photography while studying to build up some short of portfolio by the time you finish. It's better to have something rather than nothing on your resume.
@@zalogiannis wow! Free! Well that changes everything, it's the marketisation of higher education that's messed it up in the UK. I'm trying to compute how you have similar issues to the UK even when the courses aren't run as a business?
There is just so much I could say about this. I was a full-time academic but in my mid-50s they closed my Arts/Humanities dept. Subsequently, perhaps foolishly I did an MA Photography. Where to start? With the closure of the local Art schools where people were taught the skills to undertake work in their chosen discipline. Then no sooner were they swallowed up by the Polytechnics than the Polys became Universities. Studio based subjects are expensive to teach because they require space and other resources. The Research Assessment Exercise and its descendants prioritised research over teaching so the staff had to do the same. Teaching students about 'ideas' became preferable to teaching them how to paint, sculpt, photograph, because it's what the lecturers get paid/promoted for and it has the additional benefit of being inexpensive (lecture theatres cost less than studio space). So in photography for example, where there's no really serious research going on, we find staff constantly recycling ideas from Sontag, Berger, Barthes etc.
I don't have a degree of any description, though I have over 50 amateur years behind the lens. But problem solving is my thing, and the way to problem solve is work out what you want to achieve, first. You can throw all sorts of what you think are solutions at a problem, but if you haven't worked out your end goal, there's a good chance you won't get the result you wanted.
For example, what do you want to learn and what sort of photography do you want to do? What other skills (examples: languages, business, self promotion, a driving licence) do you need? What is the most cost effective and time effective solution; how much time and money can you afford? Is it better to go into huge debt paying for education or is it better to not earn very much at first? Do the sums. Good luck.
I finished my Diploma in '99 and my Bachelors part-time by 2010. All my lecturers were people who have never worked as working' photographers full-time, bar one who was a photojounalist for a while. Their idea of the commercial world was incredibly idealistic and out of touch, and one cannot blame them,... but It is indeed a case of teaching is an easier option than hitting out as a freelancer. It couldn't prepare me for real life. Another issue is that art courses don't bring in much by way of research grants and government finance allocations for every post graduate article and research project,... hence their pay comes under pressure.
@@danienelphoto the pay as a lecturer is dire, like really dire. Whatever the lecturers are getting paid is it worth it for the amount of dirt they are having to eat from all sides? I think in a way the universities know the academics have nowhere else to go, hence they exploit them and push them around. I think it comes as a surprise to senior management at a university when the academics push back. But the smart (and desperate) academics have to keep their mouth shut. Half-bloods like myself don't. Like a Horatio in the danish court you are an honest outsider as you have one foot firmly in the photo industry.
@@PicturesOnMyMind Haha, yes, if you are not someone to blindly toe the line, bureaucracy will not work well with you - especially someone who jas survived as a freelancer! South Africa's lecturers don't get paid a bundle, but in most cases it is a reasonable amount with some benefits. That is better than 80% of the freelancers who even make it past 3 years will make, but that is over here. Sure, the possible income as a freelancer is much higher, but the allure of a steady income as a young graduate is big. That is why I agree with your views in the video, in that the system (for a number of reasons), is a bit broken. It creates over indebted graduates, who are not prepared by experienced professionals, for an industry with no formal employmemt, except that of teaching others - like you said. Where I do encourage this, though, is where said graduate is enthusiastic about teaching, even more than the art itself, for that is what their career will be. A great teacher doesn't need to be accomplished, as much as an accomplished artist is not necessarily a good teacher.
I did an BA, MA and am now on a PhD and haven't spent a penny on any of those. The BA and MA were funded and I am doing the PhD in Finland which has free higher education. The BA and MA were is Ireland btw in 2010 and 2018. It would probably be difficult to access arts council funding without the piece of paper from a degree without having a significant portfolio. I would largely agree with what you're saying here, the focus at the University where I am is on how many peer-reviewed papers can you produce in a year. I am a practicing image-maker, who did freelance work in the past, but yeah, it's definitely a struggle and there is no way I could do it if I took on that amount of debt.
@@davidxflood Wow! well done getting all those bursaries. In 25 years I've never heard of that. What's your plan after the PhD?
In fairness, I think the one I got for my MA was right place right time more than anything. After my PhD I have no idea, I thought I would stay in acandemia but the further I get into it the less I like what I am seeing around me. I teach basic photography courses now as it's difficult to get anything else in Finland and I will continue doing socially engaged arts projects with different communities which is a really rewarding experience, as long as you can get them funded. Let's see what happens after that, but definitely will keep producing work!
Excellent episode, thanks!
Suggested connexions with YT photographers who have made useful observations along these lines: Photographic Eye, Daniel Milnor and Cam Mackey.
Also, the Democracy At Work YT channel by Professor Richard Wolff.
At the beginning of last year I started doing the OCA BA course - the fees have increased 25% both years! It's almost in line with a bricks and mortar uni now and the OCA should be a 'no fills' option. now considering stopping once I finish the current module, or at least continue with the next one and finish the level. Not sure what extra we get for the increases, I'd be less bothered if the staff were getting the money but I"m sure the money goes elsewhere like to the OU (the OU acquired the OCA) or on 'systems'. The staff are great btw
@@bcremin1 yeah I think that's the tragedy is that the teaching staff usually are great. The way it's set up theres zero time to work on lectures, their drowning in admin (even though there's never been more administrators) and if anything goes wrong the lecturers are the first to go. I think that's why the senior management and course leaders are so terrified.... They are scared of the students. Where as generally the academics who are teaching love the students... As they remember being one themselves. Thank you for sharing your story. As a slimy uni manager once said.... "it's just business".
I retired from a University some 8 years ago. I taught a science subject. And the issues you outline in arts teaching was/is present in the sciences too. Increasing numbers of administrators with no knowledge or experience of any subject area "deciding" how courses were to be run and how they should be taught. Usually coming up with some fashionable technique which was wholly inappropriate for the subject and/or the student cohort.
Actually I don't think the issue at the top level is really Vice Chancellor's being paid £700K. The problem comes from having a deputy VC, a Head of Student experience, a Head of research funding, a Head of X, a Head of Y...…, a Dean of Faculty, a Deputy Dean of Faculty etc etc all weighing at around £100-150k; each with an office suite, a dedicated PA, top of the range computer kit (which they couldn't use/didn't need just to send email), top of the range iphone, Ipad, first class rail and plane travel, dedicated driver, mileage allowances, health insurance … the list goes on and on.
Universities in the UK sadly don't provide the experience they once used to. Increasingly students are starting to see that the cost-benefit analysis has more cost than benefit.
Not a recent graduate (finished Uni in 2009) but think very luckily I was one of the last years to finish before the fees went crazy.
I couldn’t imagine even thinking about going to Uni now in the modern day with those prices.
Also with the rise of the internet and information just so readily available now I don’t know what the real benefits would be other than having physical access to Kit to learn with to find out what suits your practice. We never learned anything about the business side of photography which is still something I struggle with even this far down the line.
@@jamesmeasom6790 yes, it's so different now. Such a huge amount of money and how pretty much every uni just put their fees at the top whack, with no reflection of your earnings given the subject you are going to study.
I'm doing it for a piece of paper.
Going to photo school is one of the singular worst ideas any artist or commercial artist could make.
Never spend a dollar on education that is not required for employment.
Ask anybody who consults with business and ask them if it is a good idea to start your life - and your business - with massive debt.
Not gonna find many folks who would think that makes sense.
This article pretty much sums it up voicesofacademia.com/2024/04/05/its-not-your-fault-that-academic-life-is-getting-harder-by-glen-ohara/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFA_zpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVXT-eBitvlBVjEoMhR48roFJkZLGxTwNqOQp4FJ7UuyphNzPD4eJC34HQ_aem_tWyW-y9ghuDWw8T09NdA8Q
Was the tumble dryer on? :D
If you're a Spanish speaker, Julian Baron a couple of months ago launched an online school. It's affordable.
A year ago I did a recorded course about photobooks with Mariela Sancari on platform called Domestka and it was excellent. Exceeded my expectations :)
I've not heard of her. I'll check her out now.
The big universities in the US are failing because they are teaching marxist political indoctrination as their primary goal. Degrees are largely worthless because the graduates have largely been taught rubbish totally unrelated to their degrees. This means you have a lot of professors getting paid to teach underwater basketweaving and other useless 'subjects.' A degree in the US is really a degree in how to exploit nepotism. Point being, as someone who rund a photography business, I will hire a self taught photographer with talent before a university graduate with a degree. I have found that degreed individuals in non- technical fields have a sense of entitlement imparted upon them by 'education.' Essentially, in the US, degrees have been reduced to "mum and dad had the money to buy baby a degree."