New York Fashion Design Schools

Prestigious Private School Edition

Public fashion schools vs private fashion schools in New York. How to choose…Public fashion schools vs private fashion schools in New York. How to choose…


New York fashion design schools are split between public schools and private school.
Public schools will offer you a more affordable route to your college degree.
But private schools do have more prestige attached to them.
In this article we will be looking at the 8 Private schools in New York offering 4-year degrees in fashion.
They are…

One school offering accelerated courses


But before we take an in depth look at each, let’s have a quick discussion about…

Public Schools Vs Private Schools
How To Choose

It has been my experience that university or college is best used as a chance to not only earn a degree.

In a lot of ways, it’s equally as important – if not more – to use the opportunity to network.

Growing your connection to the fashion industry starts here.

We often don’t think about this when we sign up for a program in our first year because nobody tells you that.

All they tell you is to go to college…
Not how to make the most out of your time there.
The biggest advantage of a private university over a public one is that it may very well get you closer to the big names in fashion.

BUT…

Times are changing. More and more people have the opportunity to make a name for themselves than ever before.

So, consider what your goals are and temper your decision based off of that.

The cost of schooling will obviously come into play depending on how much you are willing to spend.

Apart from tuition, you will also have to consider the cost of living in the state of New York which is reported amongst the highest in the US.

Ok, enough with the serious talk.
Let’s look at the schools.

Private New York Fashion Design Schools

Parsons School of Design

So, is Parsons the same as the New school? Here is a brief history…

The school that came to be known as Parsons was founded under another name way back in 1896. This same school got a pretty prolific director, so prolific that, a few decades later, the school was renamed after him – Parsons. Then in 1970 Parsons joined another school called the New school of Social Research. In 2005, the whole thing was rebranded to be called Parsons the New School.

After such an amazing history- and an even more impressive alumni - reviews about the school range from people reviewing the school with “I want to go here”, before they have even attended it to complaints about the expense, tiny housing and workload being too much.

But generally, Parsons looks impressive.

Under the school of Fashion Parsons offers the following courses:

  •     Fashion Design (AAS)
  •     Fashion Design (BFA)
  •     Fashion Design Certificate
  •     Fashion Design and Society (MFA)
  •     Fashion Management (MPS)
  •     Fashion Marketing and Communication (AAS)
  •     Textiles (MFA)

Now let’s take a look at your…

Cost to attend Parsons

There is a lot on the Parsons tuition, fees and billing page.

But it is all on one page. So that’s good.
I’m showing the Undergraduate tuition screenshot here. Keep scrolling down the page to see Fees listed.

NOTE: These are not the only fees (separate from tuition) to be paid.

NOTE: University Fees are separate from Tuition.
On the same Parsons tuition, fees and billing page under this tab Parsons has listed

  • University Services and Student Senate
  • Other Fees
  • Student Health
  • Meal Plans
  • University Housing ranges from
  • Late Fees
  • Transcripts

It didn’t make sense to repeat the info here. It is pretty clear on the Parsons website.

Please take the time to estimate what you may need to spend as per your unique situation.

LIM College – Maxwell Hall

With the tagline “where business meets fashion” LIM offers

  • Fashion Merchandising BA & AS
  • Fashion merchandising & management ASS
  • Business of fashion BBA
  • Fashion media BS


The reviews I read about it were fine. Not much to highlight.

Cost to attend LIM

They make an estimate of total cost of attendance for residents and commuters on this page. However it does not include health insurance which is an additional  $1,830 for 12 months of cover.

Cazenovia College

Set in a rural setting, Cazenovia sounds like a great place to study fashion. Its website is very clear and well presented. So far, I have a good impression of it. And the worst thing I heard about in in reviews was that it was in a rural setting.

At Cazenovia the offer

Cost to attend Cazenovia

Please visit this link for full information.

Health insurance is at $2,591. Here is the link.

Cornell University

I am in love. Cornell University has a great website & super cool sounding programs.

It seems like a great middle ground for poor sods who want to please their parents and do something scientific while still fulfilling their fashion dreams.

Couldn’t really find anything negative worth repeating except people complaining about not enough parties. And low acceptance rate of 13% according to Niche.com.

Check out their Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design in the College of Human Ecology.

They offer

  • Fashion Design,
  • Fashion Design Management, and
  • Fiber Science


For undergraduate level. Do scroll down the same page to see what other courses they have at a masters level.

Cost to attend Cornell

For more information on the cost to attend Cornell, follow his link.

Student health plans:

From the pdf download in the right column named SHP Overview annual coverage costs were $3,108 in 2019.

For more information visit this link.

Marist College

The font of this website really put me off. But do read the text because there actually is good information there.

Marist college offers

So, when you just look under programs it looks like there are Fashion business, design, merchandising & promotion.  But Business & promotion fall under merchandising as areas of concentration.

One thing that must be mentioned is the Mporium. It’s an entrepreneurial boutique run by the students to give hands on experience in all that business stuff.

If your school doesn’t have this sort of thing, then you could do it for yourself with your own website.

Worst review: a repeat of high school in cliques and that stupidity. So, people are disappointed at what it actually turned out to be. People have complained about a lack of diversity.

Cost to attend Marist

For more information, follow this link.

Health insurance:

Annual cover $3,276 2019-2020 from pdf download.
For more information, follow this link.

Pratt Institute-Main

Pratt is an art school. The fashion course they have to offer is

The worst I heard about it was complaints about the food, housing and a lack of community among students.

Cost to attend Pratt

The Pdf download for commuters, off campus and residents is very comprehensive.
For more information, follow this link.

Health insurance:

Comes in at $1,159.50 each for spring & fall according to the pdf download on the website.
For more information, follow this link.

Syracuse University

Syracuse is a private research university.
Under the College of Visual and Performing Arts, is the Fashion Design BFA.

Under the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, one can Major or Minor in Retail Management which includes Fashion Merchandising.

Cost to attend Syracuse

They give a total estimate of     $74,799 including direct, health insurance & non billable costs.

For full information, please visit this link.

For Health insurance rates please visit this link.

Other Small Private Colleges

New York School of Design

New York School of Design offers accelerated, short term certificate courses in

  •   Fashion Design
  •  Couture
  •   Menswear

Personally, have good impression of the school. The site is easy to use. The text is not intimidating. 

Tuition:

For full information, please visit this link.

That’s it for this review.
Remember you can also check out public fashion schools in New York and he cost of living in New York before you make your final decision.