New York is said to function as a vast practical space for students studying arts and design, going beyond being just a city.

This is because the theories and projects learned within the school are naturally connected to the city as a whole.

One of the representative schools at the center of this is The New School. Located in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, this university is known for its different direction compared to traditional university structures, aiming to integrate various fields such as design, arts, social sciences, political science, and urban planning into a single flow while emphasizing critical thinking and creativity.

In particular, the Parsons School of Design under this school is regarded as one of the top design education institutions in the world.

Parsons is known for setting global standards in almost all design fields, including fashion, graphic, product design, interior, and photography.

Given that New York is the center of the global fashion industry, students are said to gain experiences closely connected to the actual industry while attending classes.

Thanks to this environment, it is often noted that graduates naturally transition into global brands or design studios, which is one of the reasons it remains popular among Korean students.

Tuition is known to be quite high for private universities, with undergraduate tuition around $50,000 to $55,000 per year.

However, when considering the high cost of living in New York, it is said that one should expect to budget over $70,000 annually.

Another prestigious university with a similar profile is Pratt Institute. Located in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill, this school is particularly strong in architecture, fine arts, and industrial design. Pratt's biggest feature is its practice-oriented education, which operates through projects linked to real urban environments, going beyond simple production of results.

Thanks to this educational approach, graduates are evaluated as having high adaptability in the field. Tuition is also known to be at the private university level, around $50,000 per year, and when including living expenses, the total cost rises to a level similar to Parsons.

In addition to these, New York is known to host world-class educational institutions across various fields. The Juilliard School is highly regarded in music, dance, and theater, known for its extremely competitive admissions process. The School of Visual Arts is recognized for its strengths in commercial arts and media, famous for its practice-oriented curriculum.

The Fashion Institute of Technology is a public college within the SUNY system, evaluated for providing fashion-focused education at relatively reasonable costs. For New York residents, tuition is around $7,000 to $8,000 per year, while out-of-state and international students pay about $16,000 to $18,000, making it less burdensome compared to private universities.

Ultimately, the biggest feature that unites New York's arts and design colleges is that the city itself functions as part of the education. What is learned in class naturally expands into exhibitions, performances, fashion shows, and corporate projects, allowing students to continuously gain practical experience outside of school.

Studying in such an environment can be seen as a process that goes beyond simply obtaining a degree, leading to the validation of one's abilities in the midst of the global market. While there is certainly a financial burden, the density of experiences and the breadth of opportunities are highly regarded in this environment.