Ringling College of Art and Design

The student festival record comes with numbers: over 36 selections at the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater including 3 Best Student Film Awards, more than 17 Student Academy Awards, over 3 College Television Awards, more than 2 Student BAFTAs.

The school is built around student film production, and the infrastructure follows: eight state-of-the-art computer labs plus three open labs, and an on-campus render farm capable of rendering several feature films. That rendering capacity is used for the graduation films.

The alumni network includes: Jeff Fowler, director of the Sonic franchise, Patrick Osborne, Oscar for Feast at Disney, Michael Yates, Emmy winner, Echo Wu, creator of a Netflix series. Placements at Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation.

The BFA in Computer Animation covers design, storyboard, 3D modelling, character animation, texturing, lighting, compositing, VFX, editing, visual development and traditional animation. Ranked 13th worldwide at the 2025 Rookies.

Tuition: $55,760 for 2026-2027, plus $5,710 in compulsory fees and $18,510 in housing and meals, roughly $79,980 a year. Also budget $2,225 to $2,500 for supplies and books.