Hi everyone! My name is Christian Hillis and I've been accepted to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts to pursue my MFA in Production Design starting this Fall!

I'm still stunned and struggling to put this into words as this program only accepts 2 applicants a year (wow!) but I am unbelievably grateful for this opportunity! Deciding to apply to this program was a huge step in restarting my life after the many challenges I’ve faced over the past few years, especially after losing my father 2 and a half years ago. His death and the events surrounding it forced me to start my life from scratch, and I’ve been working to rebuild it ever since. He was always supportive of my dreams even when pursuing my previous music degrees. He was even more enthusiastic about my talent for visual art as a self-taught artist. He would be over the moon to see me going after my passion for creating art for film, especially since my love for movies started through him!

While I’m thrilled about the opportunity to attend NYU this upcoming Fall, there are still some additional resources that I’ll need help with in order to make this dream happen.

While the University has generously awarded me with a $62,177 scholarship - this award only covers close to 80% of my full tuition cost ($79,712) not including additional expenses.

I have applied for financial aid, but I’m hoping whatever amount I get awarded will be enough to cover my housing. But because of how demanding the curriculum of this program will be, I unfortunately won't be able to maintain my current full-time job and attend school. I currently work as a receptionist and am mostly getting by living paycheck to paycheck.

In order for me to attend, I would need to cover the additional $17,535 of my tuition. With this being a three-year degree, that would total out to $52,605 in funds needed to cover all three years. I understand that this is no small ask and am researching other ways to get funding on my own as much as I can. Any support that can be contributed, even $1, would mean the world to me!

Thank you all so much for the overwhelming support I’ve received so far. I would love to make this dream come true! Thank you again!