Undergraduate Admissions: Next Steps

Once you’ve declared your intention to accept your admission offer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and you have applied for financial aid, it’s time to prepare for your arrival on campus. The next steps include securing housing, paying your tuition deposit, and registering for classes. Read on for more information about each step.

Housing


On-campus Housing

For spring 2013 students, housing offers will be sent to admitted students on a weekly, rolling basis.

For fall 2013, housing offers for admitted early action students will be sent on February 4, 2013. For all others, offers will be sent on a rolling basis after March 4, 2013.

Your invitation letter provides your username and password information for the Residence Life Application site.

Students who wish to live on campus should:

  1. Go to the housing website link provided in your letter and login.

  2. Enter your preference for building, room, bed type, and lifestyle choices.

  3. Mail-in or fax a signed copy of your to:

    School of the Art Institute of Chicago
    Attention: Residence Life Office
    36 S. Wabash Ave., suite 1203
    Chicago, IL 60603

  4. Pay your $550 housing payment through SAIC Self-Service. You may also send a check or money order to the Residence Life office at the address above.

  5. Once the Residence Life office has received and processed your signed housing contact and prepayment, you will receive an email notification (to your saic.edu email address only) that you have secured a space on campus.
     
  6. Room assignments and roommate contact information will be available in early August.

Move-in Dates

New International Students: Sunday, August 18.

All Domestic New Students and Returning Students: Saturday, August 24.

Learn more about SAIC Housing

Off-campus Housing 

SAIC is located in the heart of downtown Chicago, easily accessible from many of the city's historic and diverse neighborhoods. The Residence Life office staff can serve as a resource to you as you seek off-campus housing.

SAIC has partnered with Places4Students.com, a company that specializes in providing off-campus housing solutions for post-secondary students. This service is free for all SAIC students to use as an effective method of finding a place to live off-campus and post for roommates. Students can click this link to view current rental listings. Landlords can visit www.Places4Students.com to place ads or call 866.766.0767 (toll free).

Because the listing database is provided exclusively for SAIC students, faculty, and staff, you will be asked to go through a simple registration process, and your password will be sent to your SAIC email account within seconds.

Residence Life has also created the Off-Campus Housing in Chicago Guide for your convenience. This guide will walk you through the ins and outs of apartment searching in the city of Chicago. The guide also provides a number of important phone numbers and other contact information for essential utilities such as Commonwealth Edison and People’s Gas.


Other services offered by Residence Life include:

Questions?
Contact Residence Life at 312.629.6870 or student_life@saic.edu.

 

Pay Tuition Deposit

The $300 nonrefundable tuition deposit should be made no later than December 1 for the spring semester and May 1 for the fall semester.

To make your tuition deposit once your ARTIC account is active:

  1. Login to SAIC Self-Service (same login as your SAIC email address)
  2. Under My Account: Click the CASHNet, payments, set-up authorized users link
  3. Click on the make a payment or ARTICard Deposit link
  4. Click on Enrollment Deposit link

Though online payment is the preferred method for paying your tuition deposit, you may also mail a check to:

School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Undergraduate Admissions
36 S. Wabash Ave., suite 1201
Chicago, IL 60603

Questions?
Contact the Undergraduate Admissions office at 312.629.6100, 800.232.7242, or ugadmiss@saic.edu.

Register for Classes

Options for registering:

  1. Phone registration: Beginning November 12 (for the spring semester) or March 31 (for the fall semester), you may contact the Admissions office at 800.232.7242 or 312.629.6100 between 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (CST) to schedule a registration appointment. An admissions counselor will call you at a phone number you designate to help you set up your schedule. Appointments last between 30 minutes to an hour.

  2. In-person: You may visit campus to meet with an admissions counselor to register for classes. Beginning November 12 (for the spring semester) or March 31 (for the fall semester), contact the Admissions office at 800.232.7242 or 312.629.6100 between 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (CST) to schedule an appointment.

  3. Email Registration Option for First-time Freshmen (Only): SAIC offers an email registration option to first-time freshmen. Access to the online registration forms for Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 will become available in October.
     
  4. Email Registration Option for International Transfer students (Only): Email Larry Lee at llee2@saic.edu or Dave Murray at dmurra@saic.edu to let them know you are ready to register. They will be in contact via email with you about securing your schedule.

Things to Prepare Prior to Registering:

AP, CLEP, and IB

During your registration appointment please make sure to inform your counselor if you have AP, CLEP, or IB scores that you will be submitting officially to the Admissions office. AP or IB credit does not waive first-time freshmen from Contemporary Practices (first-year program) courses.

Transfer Credit

Only college-level equivalent courses, for which a student has earned a grade equivalent to "C" or better and has not used to meet the requirements of a high school diploma, are eligible for transfer. Transfer students seeking advanced studio placement within the departments of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects; Film, Video, New Media, and Animation; Visual Communication and Design; Fashion Design; and Photography MUST provide technical and conceptual examples of their work in order to waive prerequisite studio coursework specific to these departments.

Please inform your counselor if you are currently enrolled in any courses or plan to enroll in courses this summer at your local college or university.

Academic Access Program
First-time freshmen admitted through SAIC's Academic Access Program (AAP) will be required to register for no more than 13.5 credit hours.

English Courses for International Students (EIS)
International students with a TOEFL score below 96 must register for EIS courses. International students who are required to take EIS courses will test during orientation for placement.

See also:

Courses

Questions?
Contact the Undergraduate Admissions office at 800.232.7242 or 312.629.6100.

 

Make Payment Arrangements

Student Financial Services is dedicated to helping you through the process of financing your education at SAIC and has provided multiple ways to manage your payments, including payment plans which stretch your tuition and laptop payments over the course of the semester.

Payment Options (made payable in U.S. currency)
Cash, check, or money order (made payable in U.S. currency):

Credit Card, or Automated Check Handling (ACH):

Tuition and Fee Payment Plan:

Important Dates:

See also:

Helpful Financial Aid Information 

Figure Your Costs Worksheet (Please note that you must use Acrobat Reader or Acrobat to activate the calculation functionality of this form).

Questions?
Contact the Undergraduate Admissions office at 800.232.7242 or 312.629.6100.