Flashpoint Academy Open House
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Turns out that was part of the strategy. “We’re focusing on digital technology,” says Paula Froehle, the school’s dean. “The idea is to direct people to the Web site.” Froehle, who gave up a tenured job at Columbia College, where she was associate dean of the film department, to go to Flashpoint in June, explains that it’s a brand-new entity–“a two-year, high-end, immersive learning institution” that offers a hands-on, collaborative approach. And it does have a brick-and-mortar address: 28 N. Clark (the Burnham Center), where it has a 15-year lease and its own main-floor entry. Faster than Columbia, more artsy than DeVry, Flashpoint is offering training in four areas: filmmaking, game development, sound recording, and visual effects and animation. The plan is to confer associate degrees in those areas, but accreditation for the school could take as long as four years, Froehle says. Until then, graduates will earn certificates. Last spring, officials were projecting an initial enrollment of as many as 400, but Froehle is now expecting between 100 and 125 by the time classes begin on September 17. Long-range plans call for capping the student body at one thousand.
Tuition at Flashpoint is a hefty $25,000 a year. Because the school isn’t accredited, there’s not much in the way of government help (though Sallie Mae loans are available). “But it’s only two years,” Tullman says, and the school’s offering some scholarships of its own to students, up to $10,000 per year. He says Flashpoint is practicing “intelligent admission”–as opposed to “open admissions,” which he deplores. “I’m disgusted with schools that will take anybody who walks in the door as long as they can get the government to lend them money,” he says. “The kids end up with no real employment prospects and deep in debt, and most of them don’t even graduate. As far as I’m concerned, that model is a scam on everybody.”
Barenaked Butts in Seats
