While some art schools nationally are struggling, one local college is finding surprising success

At a recent event at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, artist Lynaea Russom created screen prints of her original piece of two long-legged birds using bright blue ink.

"I can't recommend this school enough, and especially as a young artist," said Russom, a 2024 MCAD graduate who majored in drawing and painting.

MCAD, tucked into Minneapolis' Whitter neighborhood, quietly enrolled more students last spring than it has in its 140-year history, bucking the enrollment declines that are plaguing some colleges and universities nationally.

In fact, while other art schools across the country have been forced to close or merge with others, the small school instead saw both retention and enrollment successes last year, including a 5.2% jump in full-time enrollment over the previous three years, a number that includes graduate students.

The school enrolled 831 students last fall; in the spring, that number was about 800, making for a retention rate that was more than one-third better than the previous three years, said Melissa Huybrecht, vice president for enrollment management.

"We saw some really dramatic increases in keeping students here," Huybrecht said.

How is the school attracting and retaining students? MCAD officials said they believe several newer initiatives have helped, including debuting and requiring a "first-year experience" class, adding more student housing on campus and beefing up support services. The school has also redesigned its academic programs over the past five years.

Nationally, while some art schools continue to do well, their overall outlook is a "mixed bag," said Deborah Obalil, the president and executive director of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD). Since 2016, 12 art schools have either closed or merged with another, Obalil said, though the association also added member schools in that time.

Art and design schools haven't entirely rebounded since the pandemic, a challenging time for art schools and their students, who had fewer opportunities for hands-on learning and access to specialty equipment. Enrollment faltered, she said.

There isn't a clear pattern as to which schools are making it, she said, and which are struggling.

The closures and mergers come as Americans are questioning the value of all college degrees, especially those in liberal arts fields. But visual arts have emerged as one of the top three areas young people across the country say they want to study at college in several surveys, Obalil said.

"It's clear that the current generation of students has a strong interest," she said.

More housing, student services

MCAD has boosted support services for students, recently increasing counseling services and adding staff in its learning center, a hub for academic support, said Jen Zuccola, MCAD's vice president for student affairs.

Students there now learn the basics of college and what services and resources are available in a first-year class.

"We get the resources in front of the students," Zuccola said. "What we've done so much [in past years] is hand holding, and this is sort of shifting that idea that we're here for you if you fall, but you need to do it first."

There's also a peer mentorship program pairing freshmen with older students, she said, who "help cultivate a sense of community" for first-year students, perhaps helping with student retention.

Huybrecht said finding housing near MCAD can be a challenge, which led to the school buying a new building one block from campus. The building, called the Hive, houses first-year students in apartments.

The school can now accommodate 450 students in campus-owned housing; living on campus is required for the first two years. It's another offering, Zuccola said, that could be helping with retention.

Chloe Zeng-Smith, who will be a sophomore next fall, said living in the Hive was "really nice" — it had its own bathroom and an in-unit washer and dryer, shared among three roommates. They became her closest friends.

One reason students may stay at MCAD, Zeng-Smith said, is the support offered by staff and faculty. Her roommate had gotten behind in coursework and had to drop a class, but counselors were helpful.

Refining academic programs

The school has also strengthened its academic programs over the last five years, said Robert Ransick, MCAD's vice president of academic affairs. Some majors were eliminated with the content included elsewhere in the curriculum. Other programs were consolidated.

"What we wanted to do is move away from the siloing … in specific disciplinary majors towards a more transdisciplinary approach," he said.

Ransick noted that MCAD was likely the first art and design school in the country to create a "creative entrepreneurship" degree about 20 years ago.

"They need to have the knowledge and the skills to create a budget, to put proposals together, to run a project," he said. "All those kinds of things are part of the education we hope our students leave with."

Obalil said constantly re-evaluating curriculum is something MCAD "has continued to stay ahead of the curve on."

Ransick said the school has also reorganized "foundation studies," or a set of basic classes taken early by all students in subjects like drawing, media and art history.

"When students come in, we try to expose them to a wide range of disciplines so that they can … be more diversely skilled artists, but also to have some discovery of something they might not have had prior experience [with], or an interest in," said Jay Gould, a professor and chair of foundation studies. Foundations classes also build connections between students, he said.

Tobi Maunu, a graphic design major, said that while not everyone likes foundation classes, he enjoyed them all. He also found his first-year experience class helpful.

Maunu will return to campus next fall as a sophomore. Most of his friends are coming back next year, too.

"I really liked my freshman year," he said.