You spent how much on your final project?

Can you put a price on creativity? For artists, balancing your great vision for a project with how you'll actually afford to make it happen is a continual struggle. And it's no different for students.

An art student's final show is seen as a creative milestone – it's your chance to be adventurous, to show what you can do and to start making a name for yourself. But it's expensive. Dissertation printing, equipment for your final project, framing your work and producing flyers: it all adds up.

"I spent so much on my degree show that I'm still paying it off four years later," says Matt Wilcox, a photography graduate from Staffordshire University.

He calculates that he spent £280 on printing his work, £400 on framing, £100 on business cards and booklets and £475 on printing a book for his hand in.

"I had a maxed-out £2,000 overdraft at the end of my uni education, and then the student loan on top of that. It used to be the case that people were locked into debt from a mortgage, but education is the new ball and chain."

So how much are students spending this year? Lorna Moon, a final-year modelmaking student at the Arts University Bournemouth, is working as part of a team to make an animatronic monster for her final show. She estimates they have spent around £3,000 on materials, manufacturing and promotion.

"Myself and my team members have split the costs evenly, but trying to raise the money has been hard," says Moon. "I used to work two jobs but I had to quit one to give me more time to work on this project."

Danny Gardner, a final-year fine art student at Central Saint Martin's, says: "At the moment I'm getting deeper and deeper into debt. Even though I think I've spent a lot of money on my final project I would be considered to be at the low end of money spent on my course. I've spent around £300; I have a friend who has spent over £2,000."

As well as material costs, staging the show can require a lot of money – and time.

Moon says: "Our year group has to raise money for our final show in London and we each have to pay an additional £100 per stand. Then there is also the cost of graduation itself."

For some arts students, the cost of final year is more difficult to manage than they'd imagined. Gardner says: "I always knew I'd have to put money into my individual project.

"But it came as a shock, and made me angry, that we were expected to have a final-show committee which had to give up a large part of the most stressful year of university to raise money."

Part-time jobs, parental support, scrimping and saving and fundraising events are some of the ways that arts students raise money. Do students think universities should be doing more to help?

"I had the same financial support as an English student," says Wilcox. "Whereas they have to buy a small collection of books, photography students have to spend hundreds, if not thousands, over the course of their degree. But we don't get extra help."

Students are increasingly turning to crowdfunding websites to raise the cash – asking friends and family to contribute, and spreading the word on social media. Students on the MA textile futures course at Central Saint Martin's have exceeded their goal of £3,000 on Kickstarter.

Felicity Taylor, one of the students on the master's course, says: "It's been a bit of a nightmare fundraising alongside finishing my project. With Kickstarter there was the pressure of where to pitch it, because if you don't get over a certain amount you don't get anything."

Unlike some courses, Taylor's puts up a budget for the hosting of the graduate show.

She says: "The course pays for the physical show, but if we want anything beyond that it's up to us. We raised money for catalogues to accompany the show and give to potential employers. It's in our own interest to do it."

As a creative student, there can be pressure to go bigger and better than the previous year's cohort. Living up to your own artistic ambitions can be a financial drain too.

"When you work so hard for so long you don't want anything to let your work down," says Wilcox. "You want it to be your masterpiece."

But is the money necessary – does spending more get you a better grade?

"I do think it's reflected in your grades," says Gardner. "There's the thought that if you hand in A4 printouts of your work from a photocopier at university that's OK, but if you go out of your way to print a book – that will cost much more – then you obviously take your practice more seriously."

Eilis Searson, a final-year illustration student at Camberwell College of Art, says: "It means something, really means something, to you when you're willing to spend money on it."

But some arts students argue that it's possible to put together a final project and graduate show on the cheap. Searson says: "You can do things for less money. We're trying to source materials locally for our final show."

Being thrifty can be time consuming. Gardner says: "I believe that if you have the patience and the drive to spend nothing, then you can get away with spending nothing."

Fundraising teaches you the reality of setting up your own exhibition, and can be fun as well as challenging. "A lot of us have really bonded through raising the money together," says Gardner.

For art students who are only just starting uni, it might be worth thinking about fundraising now. Searson says: "The tutor mentions fundraising in your first year and tells you to start early, but nobody does."

Think about what you're spending, and whether you can save on any of your costs. "It's important for students to understand the costs of their project and not to be wasteful," says Moon.

"However, many of the costs involved can stop people pushing themselves that bit further because they can't afford it, which is a real shame."

(Source: TheGuardian)