Accredited Filmmaking degree?

[justlearning123]

Does anyone know if there are accredited filmmaking degrees online? I need to get a 4 year degree, but would greatly prefer to study filmmaking. Because of my dayjob, I would need to take night-classes or online classes. I am in NJ, about an hour from New York City, so I could probably go there, though I don't like NYC. Because the subject material uses equipment, and teams of people, I am thinking it is unlikely to find one online. If there are none available, then perhaps some other film-related degree. Montclair State is nearby, but I don't know yet if they have night-classes.

[marianne202]

The school I teach at has a 2 year on-site filmaking degree that has been very successful. If you don't find many answers, please PM me and I will hook you up with the email to our program director. He will surely be able to guide to a good choice that would be convenient for you.

[sanantone]

Community colleges normally have night classes and so do some 4-year schools. Filmmaking is kind of hard to study online. The next closest thing would be to get an online BFA in the closest concentration you can find. I found this school with a Google search and it's regionally accredited. It has an online film & television program at the associates, bachelors, and masters level.

Academy of Art University: Online Film School, Online Film Schools

[justlearning123]

I also found these so far:

Film (Film & Media Studies) (BA) | Online Degree Programs
Academy of Art University: Online Film School, Online Film Schools
Screenwriting Degree Online | BA in Creative Writing | SNHU
Film Bachelor's Degree : Full Sail
Film BFA Program | Academy of Art University | Bachelors Programs

The ASU is Arizona State University, and they appear to have state accreditation like TESC/CO/Exelsior. Fullsail seems to highly regarded, even though it is for-profit. Their sound students have apparently won some awards. I keep reading absolute horror stories about the For-Profit colleges. The Academy of Art seems to be well regarded, but expensive. Its hard to tell when some people say they are purely money driven, and others say they are great.

I mostly want a degree that will not be dismissed, and possibly open some doors in to different kinds of business (the entertainment industry in this case). I've been a computer programmer for 25 years and I would love to be able to do something else. Not having had a 4 year degree for those 25 years has made me miss out on a lot of jobs, so I don't want to get one now just to find it is worthless. It seems some for-profit colleges have such bad reputations people are better off not putting them on their resumes. Ironically, I don't really need an IT degree, I just need any kind of degree so that I can say I have one. I really like film and dramatic narratives, and I think I would really enjoy working on a film degree. By getting a degree, I would finally get a 4 year degree, and would have also learned a lot about filmmaking. I could possibly look in to an "advertising" degree, since they are in a way like minature films (structurally).

I always planned to purse a film education *after* I finished an IT degree, but I never finished my IT degree because I loathe taking math and science classes. Now I am so old, I may as well skip the IT degree and pursue a film degree, or something like one. I have been planning on finishing an IT degree at TESC by taking the classes through Straighterline, but I keep dropping the classes everytime my work gets too busy. I feel like I would rather gouge my eyes out than do math work, and I would crawl through glass to study filmmaking.

So far, ASU online is the only state accredited college with a film degree, but they require Algebra and Statistics. I might be able to do those 2 math classes. I know the math is not that difficult, I have other issues regarding math classes, and would prefer to not take them. I'm actually in a math class now (with SL), and I hate it, hate it, hate it (no fault of SL). Weell, this post turned out a lot longer than I planned, lol.

[sanantone]

What do you mean by state accreditation? For institutional accreditation (accreditation for the whole school), there is regional and national accreditation. Regional accreditation is usually more highly regarded and the credits are much easier to transfer. Some licensing bodies for certain organizations might even require regionally accredited degrees. Then, there is programmatic accreditation, which is for different areas of study. Programmatic accreditation for business programs, for example, says that the program goes above and beyond the minimum requirements for institutional accreditation. States do not accredit schools, but they do license them or approve them for operations within a state. State approval is actually the lowest credential a school needs to operate legally; the school would still be considered unaccredited without regional or national accreditation and most employers and licensing agencies would not accept its degrees. Any school with regional or national accreditation will have state licensing or approval if it wants to operate brick and mortar campuses legally within that state.

ASU is a state school, which means it is publicly funded by taxpayer dollars within Arizona. TESC and COSC are also state schools in New Jersey and Connecticut, respectively. Excelsior is a private, non-profit school like Harvard and MIT (they do not depend on tax money aside from financial aid which is for the student, not the school), but it has regional accreditation along with the others including Academy of Art University. I don't know how well-regarded Full Sail is. It is nationally accredited by ACCSC, so if you don't like the school, you're going to have a hard time finding another school with a film program that will accept its credits. In my opinion, Full Sail is way overpriced for its accreditation. Two of your links are for the same school and the same program, which is the one I posted above. I meant to say motion picture and television instead of film and television.

ASU is the best choice because it's the cheapest of the film programs. Even though Academy of Art University is more expensive than Full Sail, it's the next best choice since it's regionally accredited. SNHU? Well, that depends on whether you really want to study screenwriting. The school is regionally accredited and the cheapest out of all of the choices.

[justlearning123]

Thank you for all the information Sanantone (and others!). I am starting to like ASU, but I am surprised at the cost - apparently $425 per credit hour. Is that cheap? Most of the courses are 3 CR, so it would be $1,200 per class, unless I am missing something. Their degree plan has 120 credits, which would be $51K. I guess prices have gone up since the 80s.

[sanantone]

It's about average and maybe even a little on the cheap end. Even though ASU has the same fee for all online students, the tuition rate is pretty much what you could expect for out-of-state students at most universities.

[justlearning123]

I am planning to pursue a Film & Media Studies online degree from ASU, thanks everyone for the help here. It will accomplish at least 4 of my goals: I will have a regionally accredited 4yr degree, knowledge of the film industry, formal screenwriting education, and the skills for a possible second career that I chose to be in. Thanks again for the help here!

[sanantone]

I'm happy that you found the right school. Good luck!