The Art Institute of Tucson

This school provided me the worst experience of all time, and it was one I really wish I hadn’t had.
When I enrolled in the school I was aware of the tuition rates, I was aware of the amount of debt that I would end up collecting, but all throughout the enrollment process I was promised that it was rewarding. I was promised that the teachers were experienced and talented and would lead me down the path of success in my dream of being an animator. The enrollment process is phenomenal, all of the staff are incredibly helpful and caring and they make the process of taking your money so much easier on you.
Once you start your classes is when it all goes down hill. You quickly learn from the students around you that the «rigorous» enrollment process you had gone through to get accepted wasn’t quite as selective as you had thought it was. Suddenly your talents are nowhere near as special as you were lead to believe, because if you’re just as talented as these other people, then clearly the bar is set low. This is the point where I realized that I didn’t get accepted because the enrollment staff thought they could help develop me into a great artist, I got accepted so they could take my money. They’ll accept anyone as long as you pay them.
When you start your classes the school is also kind enough to supply you with a «starter kit» of sorts that contains several of the art supplies you’ll be needing, including papers, high quality pencils, tools like rulers and exacto knives. For the most part this is actually helpful until your teachers start requesting you bring supplies that were not included in your kit to do your work. I wasn’t surprised by this, I knew art was expensive because of the materials, so I got what I needed. After a couple quarters of this when I finally added up the several hundred dollars of supplies I had bought I finally realized the «kit» they had given me was no longer being used and was the only thing included in my tuition. Not only did I need to pay the school $ 80,000 over my 3 year enrollment period, God knows how much money I would have spent on separate supplies that they weren’t going to help with.
Finally I would like to address the teachers. That was the biggest thing I was excited for after my enrollment process– teachers with experience! People who had worked in their designated fields and knew what the job was like, not just how to produce a portfolio! Unfortunately the things you’re most excited for always turn out to be the biggest disappointments. I was at the school for 3 quarters, and with AI’s fast track program I was switching classes every quarter. Each class would meet once a week for four hours for about 2 ½ months, so I got to experience a multitude of teachers. Out of the 12 or so classes I ended up taking, I was only happy with the teachers from 3 of them. One of which was an English teacher, not even related to my degree. The teachers may have talent, but they have no idea how to teach. They lay out their expectations for a project, but they give no guidelines for how to complete it. They provide no techniques on how to do things. They say you were accepted to this school, so figure it out. If I could figure it out myself, why am I paying you $ 80,000 to teach me? It was ridiculous and counter productive.
In the end, I only spent 3 quarters there. I’m now about $ 8,000 in debt for student loans for an experience I wish I could return. The only reason that I’m giving this review 2 stars is because of the friends and I made and the couple teachers who do care. The first star is for the students. The students who go here are some of the kindest most accepting people I’ve ever met. Even though I don’t attend the school anymore I’ve still kept the friends I’ve made and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. The second star is for the teachers. There were three teachers in particular you stood out to me. Daniel Séman (I believe that’s how you spell his last name…), Robert Loomis, and Sean Bottai. Daniel was in animation and taught the intro to animation course. He was extremely talented and very helpful, and knew I was struggling with the concept of animation since I had never tried to make my pictures move before. He actually cared and actually helped. Loomis unfortunately was in the film department, but due to the cinematic nature of animation I ended up taking a couple of his courses. One of which centered around the history of animation. I never met a man more passionate about what he does. I have a list of films that he handed out on the first day of class that he believes everyone should see at least once in their lifetime, and boy am I still working on it. Lastly was Sean Bottai. He wasn’t an art teacher, he taught my English class, but man was he funny. He made class debates and discussions fun which naturally increased the retention rate of what he was saying.
I hope this ranting review helps someone. And I hope you think before making my mistake.

Make sure you have money for this school! Don’t take out loans. Loans are not worth it if you want to be in debt in the range of 100 grand for a bachelor’s degree in a field that has a very bleak job market.