Marist College

Graphic Design Programs at Marist College

Marist College appears in our ranking of 21 Affordable Master’s Degrees in Marketing and Advertising.

At Marist College, undergraduates can choose from several design programs through the School of Communication and the Arts and the Art & Digital Media Department. The largest of those programs is a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Digital Media. This program features six core courses, including 3D Design, Basic Drawing, Survey of Western Art and Fundamentals of Art and Design. It also includes a prep course that helps students work on their portfolios and another course that asks them to present their portfolios.

The digital media program includes three concentrations: graphic design, animation, and digital arts. Each one includes 15 credits from within that field of study. Digital Photography I, Design for the Web, Digital Animation and Digital Layout and Design are other required courses. The graphic design concentration includes Typography and Design, Advanced Typography, Multimedia Authoring, Digital Illustration, and Digital Animation. Students who choose the digital arts concentration will take Digital Painting, Multimedia Authoring, Visual Book and Digital Painting. The animation concentration includes similar courses as well as 3D Animation and 3D Modeling and Visualization.

Also available is a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Fine Arts with concentrations in studio art or art history. While the art history concentration looks at the artwork that others created, the studio art includes courses that let students create artwork based on their talents and ideas. They’ll take Basic Drawing, Technology for the 21st Century and Fundamentals of Art and Design among other courses. Their electives allow them to create digital artwork and learn the basics of creating apps and art for the web. BA students will also critique the work that others do and submit their work for feedback from their peers.

Students at Marist College can also choose from different minors that go along with an art degree. The graphic design minor includes courses such as Digital Photography I and II, Typography and Design and Publication and Design. In the studio art minor, students take History of Western Art, Digital Photography I and similar classes. The college also offers a photography minor that includes digital photography courses. Online students can enroll in the college’s professional studies major. They’ll take the general education courses required to earn a bachelor’s degree, but they’ll also have the option of taking digital art and graphic design classes too. The professional studies major is only available online.

MC also offers an online Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Master’s degree that can be completed in a part-time or full-time sequence.

About Marist College

Marist College is a private college named after the Marist Brothers who founded the school. The Marist Brothers or Marist Brothers of the Schools is a religious organization affiliated with the Catholic Church. It opened as a society dedicated to the creation of training schools based on the foundations of the Church. The organization established the new school in Poughkeepsie, New York in the 1800s. That school would become the Marist Normal Training School in 1929, which was the basis for Marist College. It worked with Fordham University to expand into four-year degree programs and eventually became a separate college. The Marist College campus now sits in the Hudson Valley. Several other properties owned by the college offer opportunities for students, including Sprout Creek Farm and the Payne Estate. Though it still uses the name Marist College, it no longer has an affiliation with that organization.

Marist College Accreditation Details

The nursing, clinical laboratory, education and business programs offered by Marist College all have accreditation from professional organizations. All the graphic design majors and minors are covered by the regional accreditation that the colleges holds, which comes from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). Students who use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to get financial aid packages can also get scholarships from the college. They can only apply for aid because Marist has regional accreditation.

Marist College Application Requirements

As a test-optional college, Marist does not require that students take or submit a standardized test score. It gives students the option of providing one if it can make up for any issues on their transcripts or strengthen their overall applications. Students can apply online with the Marist Application, Common Application or Coalition Application. Each one includes a $50 application fee that they need to pay before the college will process their applications. The Marist College application is also available as a PDF form for students who prefer applying through the mail.

The early decision deadline is a binding deadline, which means that students who apply by this date must agree to attend the college if accepted. This deadline is November first. Students will get an answer by the middle of December and will have until the beginning of February to pay their enrollment deposits. The early action deadline is not binding and lets students get a response by the middle of January when they apply by the middle of November. The final deadline is January first. Students can then submit their transcripts and their test scores if they decide to use them.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Marist College breaks the cost of attendance down into direct and indirect costs. Direct costs refer to the college’s charges, while indirect refers to the expenses that students have outside of the classroom. Students pay an average of $61,800 a year for their direct costs. This includes the $16,300 that they pay for room and board. Their indirect costs can total more than $3,200 a year and include their books and personal expenses.

The financial aid available from the college includes scholarships through RaiseMe, which offers micro-scholarships to students. They can get up to $25,000 a year, which the college will incorporate into their standard financial aid packages. Marist scholarships come from the college and include merit programs that give students up to $25,000 a year. The Dollars for Scholars program will match up to $500 of the funds that students receive through their local chapters of the organization.

In addition to merit scholarships, the college offers endowed scholarships from alumnae and others. Students can get grants and loans as well as jobs. Most of the on-campus jobs pay them $11.10 per hour. Some jobs may pay more. Students can continue working for the college during the summer term also. Work-study can help the graphic design majors at Marist College cover their costs when added to their financial aid packages.