I applied to NYFA quite a while ago, and was accepted (obviously, otherwise there wouldn’t be much point of this website). It isn’t hard to get into this school, I am pretty sure that if you can pay the tuition they will take almost anyone who shows genuine interest, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll have success in the industry. I also don’t think that just because they would accept a lot of people just because of their money that the school won’t provide a quality learning experience. I think that you will get out of it what you put in, but all that is besides the point here, I’m going to fill you in a little bit about the process I am going through now to finalize my acceptance.
I was required to prove that I had at least a high-school education, so I sent my university transcripts. I had to send them my information page from my passport, so I faxed that over as well. I had to pay a $1,000 non-refundable deposit (US Dollars). Now I have to prove that I have enough money to pay tuition, and living expenses for the full year. Once this is all completed I will get my I-20 which proves to the customs officer that I am enrolled at a US post-secondary institute so that I can get into the country. As a Canadian I do not need a visa according to the email that the NYFA sent me, but don’t take my word for it, make sure you verify this because this stuff is changing all the time now that the US is getting more strict on immigration stuff.
While I understand that they need to have some sort of security about the ability of their prospective students to afford their program, I do not understand why they require me to provide a bank statement indicating that I have $50,000 or so in an account. My parents are paying for my film school, and most of my living expenses (thanks mom, thanks dad), but they don’t just keep $50,000 sitting around in a bank account. They invest their money in retirement plans, in real estate, in stocks and in other areas, but not in cash. I’m not so sure I like this idea of have $50,000 sitting in an account for a year, not making any money. Tomorrow I am going to call NYFA to see if we can just show an income tax return indicating that we have some decent income coming in. Because who keeps that kind of cold hard cash lying around? Plus, couldn’t someone just borrow $50,000 from a line of credit account, transfer to a savings account, and then just print out the account statement?
The whole financial aspect of NYFA is the only thing which makes me suspicious of NYFA. The idea that they want you to prove with a bank statement that you have the cash (especially for the 1 year filmmaking program) is sort of unsettling. It makes it really seem like the cash is the top priority, although I can’t blame them, they are running a business and being a businessman myself I can relate.
