Best Student Loans for Fashion Design School in 2025

Fashion design school can be expensive, with tuition reaching as much as $42,000 per year at top programs like the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and $58,000 per year at Parsons School of Design.

If you need help covering tuition and other expenses, student loans can help. Federal loans are the best place to start if you're attending an accredited school, but they may not be enough on their own. Private student loans can help fill in the rest. College Ave, Citizens, and Sallie Mae offer some of the best private student loans for fashion design school available through the Credible platform due to their competitive interest rates, high borrowing limits, and flexible repayment options.

This guide covers how to pay for fashion school, including the best student loan options and advice from experienced fashion professionals.

Current private student loan rates

Best private student loans for fashion school

When shopping around for a private student loan, compare interest rates, repayment options, and cosigner requirements before deciding on the best lender for your situation.

Why you can trust our Credible experts

The Credible editorial team is independent and unbiased. Partners do not influence our editorial content. To help you find the best student loan for your situation, we conduct thorough research and analyze thousands of lender data points. Using data-driven methodologies, we score criteria that are important to you. This allows us to objectively rank student loan lenders and products. To learn more, read our methodology below.

Methodology

To determine the best student loan lenders for fashion design school, Credible collected more than 1,000 points of data on two dozen companies and evaluated them on several different categories: repayment options, eligibility, interest rates, loan terms, and customer support. We assigned a score out of five stars to each lender based on our findings. Below are the weightings assigned to the general categories for the best student loan companies — which comprise individual criteria that are also weighted.

• Repayment options: 30%
• Eligibility: 25%
• Interest rates: 20%
• Loan terms: 15%
• Customer support: 10%

While the best lender for you will depend on your unique needs and financial circumstances, these findings should help answer your questions and assist you in your search for the best student loan.

Learn more about our methodology.

Federal student loans for fashion school

It's a good idea to start with federal student loans before applying for private loans, as private student loans often have higher interest rates and fewer borrower protections.

To qualify for federal student loans, you'll need to attend an accredited school that participates in the federal student aid program. You can check a school's accreditation using the Department of Education's search tool.

Once you've confirmed the school is eligible, fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to find out what loans you qualify for. These can include:

• Direct Subsidized Loans: Subsidized loans are reserved for undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need. These loans don't accumulate interest charges until six months after leaving school. 
• Direct Unsubsidized Loans: Undergraduate and graduate students without financial need can qualify for unsubsidized loans, which begin to accumulate interest charges from the disbursement date. 
• Grad PLUS loans: If you're pursuing a graduate-level fashion design program, you may be eligible for grad PLUS loans. These loans allow you to borrow as much as the full cost of attendance at your school, but come with higher interest rates than other federal loans.

Other financial aid options for fashion school

Student loans aren't your only option to pay for school. Some alternatives include:

• Fashion design scholarships: Scholarships don't need to be repaid, so they can help minimize the amount of debt you take on. Look into fashion-specific scholarships such as the Fashion Scholarship Fund and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Scholarship Fund.
• Institutional aid: Many fashion design schools offer their own financial aid opportunities, which can help offset your tuition costs. Contact your school's financial aid office to ask about what school-specific funding is available.
• School payment plans: Some schools let you spread out tuition through monthly payments. For example, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York offers a tuition installment plan to help make costs more manageable.

See Also: The Pros and Cons of Student Loans

Cost of fashion school

Fashion design school costs can range widely, from around $7,000 to $67,000 per year when you factor in tuition, fees, housing, supplies, and other education-related costs. Higher-end programs like those at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and Parsons School of Design fall at the top of that range.

If you're pursuing a shorter certificate program or an associate degree, you may pay much less. For example, students enrolled in a fashion design program at their local community college can expect to pay an average of $4,050 per year in tuition and fees, according to the College Board.

Fashion designer salary expectations

Fashion designers earn a median of $80,690 per year (or $38.79 per hour), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). However, salaries can vary greatly depending on your experience, location, and the type of work you do.

Here's how average fashion designer salaries typically break down, based on BLS data.

• Entry-level designers (lowest 10%) make around $37,090 per year on average.
• Top earners (top 10%) can make as much as $160,850 annually on average.

Borrowing tips for fashion design students

Choose the right school

When it comes to fashion design, there is no shortage of programs. But selecting the right school can make all the difference.

“Focus on the practical aspects of the curriculum, including its portfolio development opportunities, rather than its prestige,” says Ira Lysa, fashion designer and founder of Imperial Alterations.

“Evaluate the results for alumni, their internship placements, and how the teaching staff cooperates with the industry,” she advises. “A smaller institution acclaimed for industry connections and practical teaching is much more desirable than a larger, more recognized institution with high tuition and low employment rates after graduation.”

Consider working while in school

If you can, working part-time while in school can help reduce how much you need to borrow.

“Fashion internships and working for local designers can cover some of the expenses while providing valuable experience,” says Lysa.

Even if you can't land a job in the fashion space, working any job while in school can help to offset some of your costs.

Weigh the costs against your earning potential

“Fashion design is certainly a career to be passionate about, but it does not pay particularly well at the start,” says Lysa.

Before jumping into a program, confirm that the cost makes sense when you take your projected earnings into account. If a school is too expensive, that might put you at a disadvantage after graduation.

“Having a large student debt would restrict your ability to take up internships, work on freelance projects, or even start your own line. But, unrestricted finances make it easier for you to execute various ideas without worrying,” Lysa adds.

Borrow only what you need

It can be tempting to borrow more than you actually need. But as you pursue a career in fashion design, making choices that limit your debts will pay off after graduation.

“Minimizing debt is really important because whatever is borrowed needs to be repaid with interest,” says John Hupalo, founder of My College Corner.