Scholarships

We believe that all emerging artists, designers, and scholars should have access to a world-class art and design education.
 

When you support scholarship funding at SAIC, you remove barriers to access, meet students’ financial needs, and ease the burden of debt off the shoulders of our graduates. You ensure that future artists, designers, and scholars can take risks, experiment, and create new ideas that transform our world. Thanks to support from friends like you, SAIC offers a number of donor-sponsored awards to undergraduate and graduate students.

85%

Percentage of SAIC students who receive financial assistance directly from the School

89.3%

Percentage of undergraduate students who receive financial assistance directly from the School

68%

Percentage of graduate students who receive financial assistance directly from the School

18-20%

Percentage of undergraduate students who are first-generation each year

$46,000,000

SAIC dollars spent on undergraduate and graduate assistance in 2019–20

$52,000

Covers the cost of undergraduate tuition for one student for one year

$67,000

Covers the cost of undergraduate tuition and living expenses for one student for one year

Your gift toward scholarship funding is an investment in our collective cultural future.

 

“After I received my scholarship, it confirmed to me that I belong here, that I wasn’t just a random selection.”

-Leana Yonan (BFA 2020)

Read more about Leana and how scholarships support first-generation students like her.

Chicago Bean and Skyline

“The reality is that education can change a person’s direction in life. The more scholarships we can get, the more people whose lives will be totally transformed.”

-Rose Milkowski, vice president of enrollment management

Read more about the impact of need-based scholarships at SAIC.

“It’s very important for one generation to support the next generation. It’s generations and generations giving to each other, being influenced by each other through making work. It’s really your artistic family. And I feel that very much: [SAIC] has been my artistic family.”

-Suellen Rocca (BFA 1964, HON 2016)

Read more about why the late Suellen Rocca, of Hairy Who? fame, gave to SAIC.

“Studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago helped define my artistic vision, and it is an honor to be able to give students the opportunity to receive a world-class art and design education at such a wonderful institution.”

-Jeff Koons (SAIC 1975–76, HON 2008)

Read more about why Jeff Koons established a scholarship fund at SAIC.

Mariah Winding in front of the Chicago flag

“The phone call was a validation for me. A moment where someone believed that I had enough potential to be successful that they would put money into me.”

-Maryiah Winding (BFA 2019), reflecting on the moment when she learned she had been offered a full-tuition scholarship to SAIC.

Learn more about Maryiah and her work.

Your support gives students access to the resources they need to grow as artists, designers, and scholars. Learn more about ways to give here.

Interested in creating your own scholarship? Contact SAIC’s Office of Advancement at givetosaic@saic.edu or 312.499.4190.

 

Artwork by Sarahi Garcia (BFA 2022)