Tuition and Financial Assistance

Tuition and Fees

Two-week Sessions, Half Day Courses (1 college credit) Tuition: $1,848
Additional expense for art supplies (approximate): $300

Two-week Sessions, Full Day Courses (2 college credits) Tuition: $3,696
Additional expense for art supplies (approximate): $450

Note: Tuition amounts above do not include merit scholarships or need-based financial aid the student may be awarded. Students may spend more or less than the recommended amounts listed above on art supplies. Supply costs vary for each course and are determined in part by students' individual projects and material choices. 

Financial assistance is available in the form of need-based aid and merit scholarships. Need-based aid is available to US residents only. All students may apply for merit scholarships. Note: Students must declare that they are applying for need-based financial aid and/or merit scholarships at the time of registration. Financial assistance covers a percentage of tuition costs only, supply costs are not covered by financial assistance.

Merit Scholarship Application Information and Instructions

To apply for a merit scholarship, students should choose "Option 1: Apply for aid/scholarships and pay a $100 non-refundable tuition deposit" when registering online and pay a $100 non-refundable tuition deposit. Applicants must select “Yes” when asked if you are applying for a merit scholarship at the time of registration.

Students will be prompted to submit a portfolio online of 6-10 pieces of artwork during the registration process. Artwork may be in any medium, regardless of class choice. Artwork is only required for merit scholarship consideration, not admission into the program. Following registration, you will receive an email with further instructions on how to upload your portfolio for merit scholarship consideration if you did not upload your portfolio during registration. Please note: your student’s Merit Scholarship application will not be considered complete until their merit portfolio is received.

Need-Based Financial Aid Application Information and Instructions

Need-based financial aid is available! To apply for need-based financial aid, students should choose "Option 1: Apply for aid/scholarships and pay a $100 non-refundable tuition deposit" when registering online and pay a $100 non-refundable tuition deposit. Need-Based financial aid is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Applicants must select “Yes” when asked if you are applying for need-based financial aid at the time of registration.

Following registration, students will be emailed a link to DocuSign, a secure server, where they will need to upload a copy of the top two pages of their family’s most recent year’s federal tax form 1040. Please note: your student’s need-based financial aid application will not be considered complete until the federal tax form 1040 is received.

Third-party billing is when a company or government/outside agency has established special billing arrangements to cover tuition and/or fees for students that it sponsors. Continuing Studies must receive an authorization from the sponsoring agency before third-party billing can be processed. All billing authorizations—which may be a letter, purchase order, or voucher—must be on official agency letterhead and signed by an officer of the organization. Payment by the sponsor must be made directly to Continuing Studies; agreements where payments are sent to the student cannot be honored. 

All authorizations must include the term that the authorization is in effect. Continuing Studies cannot accommodate any restrictions or contingencies on the authorization. For instance, if the agency requires transcript information before payment, Continuing Studies cannot authorize third-party billing. All sponsored students are required to complete a Tuition Repayment Agreement (promissory note) in order to be registered for the class and to initiate third-party billing. In the event of nonpayment or partial payment by the third-party agency, the student will be charged for the unpaid amount. Third parties are invoiced after the class is confirmed to run. 

Payments must be made within 30 days of billing. If payment is not received within 30 days, the agency and the student will be notified, and the student will be billed for the unpaid amount as authorized on the Tuition Repayment Agreement. Any charges that are not paid by the sponsor are billed to the student. Complete a copy of the Registration Form and Tuition Repayment Agreement and email it to cs@saic.edu.

All new Continuing Studies Tuition Remission requests must be submitted by creating a Jira Tuition Remission Form and attaching a completed Early College Program Online Summer Institute registration form at the time of Jira submission. Please do not email your forms to the Continuing Studies Enrollment team. They must be uploaded in Jira to be considered a complete request. 

Step 1: Log into the Jira Tuition Remission Form using your ARTIC SSO credentials (artic Gmail). You must be logged into VPN if you are offsite. Fill in the fields. Some questions are dynamic based on your responses. All fields are required unless noted as optional. Under the "Will Register for:" section, be sure to select Continuing Studies.
 
Step 2: Attach a completed required Early College Program Online Summer Institute registration form to your Jira request. Do not email your registration forms to the CS Enrollment Team, they must be attached to your Jira request. 
 
Step 3: Select "create" at the bottom of the form to submit it for review.
 
Step 4: We will contact you via a Jira comment four weeks out from the start date of the course to let you know if there is space for us to move the enrollment forward. If there is no space at that time, we will contact you via a Jira comment to find an alternative course.

More information about the Continuing Studies Employee Tuition Remission enrollment process can be found here. Questions regarding eligibility should be directed to Human Resources at ask_hr@saic.edu. 

The payment deadline is May 1, for all classes. If you have not made payment by this date you are at risk of being dropped from your selected courses. If you need to drop a class, all drop requests must be submitted in writing to cs@saic.edu and include the student's name, ID number, and course information. One hundred percent of the tuition charge, not including the $100 nonrefundable tuition deposit, is refundable if courses are dropped by May 1 classes .*If a course is dropped after the deadline, no refund will be granted. Note: this date applies for all sessions.

You may complete your payment for your remaining tuition balance online at saic.edu/cspayment. You may also submit your payment by mailing a personal check or money order with the student's full name and ID in the reference section to: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, SAIC Bursar's Office, 37 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 245, Chicago, IL 60603. 

For any financial questions, please contact Student Financial Services at 312.629.6600 or saic.sfs@saic.edu.

All drop requests must be submitted in writing to cs@saic.edu and include the student’s name, ID number, and course information. 100 percent hundred percent of the tuition charge, less $100 nonrefundable tuition deposit, is refundable if courses are dropped by May 1. If a course is dropped after the deadline, no refund will be granted. 

Note: this date applies for all sessions. Refunds take four to six weeks to process, depending on payment type. 

No tuition will be refunded, and financial aid and merit scholarships may be revoked, if a student is asked to leave the program for violations of policies or regulations. Nonattendance does not constitute an official withdrawal, nor a cancellation of tuition and fees—withdrawals must be submitted in writing as outlined above by the deadline.

Contact Us

Continuing Studies staff members are available Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. CT at 312.629.6170 or cs@saic.edu to answer your questions. We are here to help!