10 Most Affordable Bachelor’s in Fashion

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Texas Wom­an’s Uni­ver­si­ty is the #1 school for an afford­able fash­ion’s bach­e­lor’s degree.
• Afford­able bach­e­lor’s in this rank­ing pro­vide high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion in fash­ion at low­er costs, mak­ing them acces­si­ble to a broad­er range of students.
• Ensur­ing the pro­gram is accred­it­ed is cru­cial, as it guar­an­tees that the edu­ca­tion meets cer­tain stan­dards impor­tant for career prospects.

High­er edu­ca­tion is not cheap, and a fash­ion degree can be expen­sive depend­ing on which branch of fash­ion design you choose. One option is to look into cheap fash­ion design schools to save on tuition. But always check that the afford­able fash­ion degree is accred­it­ed by a nation­al­ly rec­og­nized body. The fash­ion design branch is the more expen­sive of the two owing to the mate­ri­als and tools you need for the var­i­ous class­es. The fash­ion mer­chan­dis­ing degree is a cheap­er alter­na­tive to the fash­ion design degree, and it’s pos­si­ble to get a good edu­ca­tion from cheap fash­ion design colleges.

Anoth­er option is to look at pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties in your home state for in-state tuition rates. Many state uni­ver­si­ties have cheap fash­ion design cours­es and still man­age to pro­vide a qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion that leads to qual­i­ty career oppor­tu­ni­ties. Anoth­er way to save mon­ey is to take elec­tive class­es at a com­mu­ni­ty col­lege and trans­fer the cred­its to a design school. Always make sure the cred­its are trans­ferrable before going this route.

Methodology: Ranking the Most Affordable Fashion Degree Programs

Stu­dents look­ing for an afford­able fash­ion bach­e­lor’s degree pro­gram know that cost isn’t every­thing. They also need a degree that pays off. That’s why Bach­e­lor’s Degree Cen­ter edi­tors fea­ture only accred­it­ed, trust­wor­thy col­leges and schools. The Most Afford­able rank­ing is arranged by tuition rate, accord­ing to cur­rent IPEDS data.

1. Texas Woman’s University

Texas Wom­an’s Uni­ver­si­ty has an afford­able fash­ion degree that teach­es stu­dents how to design and mer­chan­dise cloth­ing. Stu­dents learn how to deal with man­u­fac­tur­ers, retail­ers and whole­salers and grad­u­ate ready to take on entry-lev­el jobs in acces­so­ry and appar­el design or man­u­fac­ture. The pro­gram also has a strong lib­er­al arts cur­ricu­lum that includes gov­ern­ment, Eng­lish, math, his­to­ry, art, human­i­ties, com­put­er sci­ence and eco­nom­ics. Those who suc­cess­ful­ly com­plete the cours­eswork go onto pur­sue intern­ships, jobs at domes­tic and inter­na­tion­al fash­ion firms, or grad school.

Texas Wom­an’s is based in the Dal­las Fort Worth area. This pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty has 7,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents and accepts 87% of those who apply. Those lucky enough to be accept­ed, choose from majors such as arts and human­i­ties and well­ness studies.

What We Like: Near­ly all (93%) of stu­dents who attend­ed col­lege receive some form of stu­dent aid.

Degree: BA in Fash­ion Design

Texas Wom­an’s Uni­ver­si­ty BA in Fash­ion Design

2. Fashion Institute of Technology

The afford­able fash­ion degree at the Fash­ion Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy claims to be the old­est pro­gram of its kind in the Unit­ed States. FIT engages indus­try exec­u­tives who ensure the program’s course­work has prac­ti­cal val­ue. The school has close ties to alum­ni in the indus­try and offers valu­able net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to stu­dents. The inter­na­tion­al fash­ion busi­ness man­age­ment pro­gram allows stu­dents to take cours­es in New York or Paris. They can also study at the Polimo­da Inter­na­tion­al Insti­tute in Italy. Sev­er­al schol­ar­ships are avail­able for stu­dents at FIT.

Locat­ed in Man­hat­tan, FIT is a mid­size school in one of the fash­ion cap­i­tals of the world. It has over 7,200 stu­dents and a very tough admis­sions process. Just 53% of those who apply receive an accep­tance let­ter from the admis­sions com­mit­tee. Since the school’s cur­ricu­lum cen­ters around fash­ion, pop­u­lar majors include appar­el design, mer­chan­dis­ing, fash­ion, and adver­tis­ing. The school has a strong grad­u­a­tion rate of 80%.

What We Like: FIT ranks #21 among the country’s Best Col­leges for Design.

Degree: BS in Fash­ion Mer­chan­dis­ing Management

Fash­ion Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy BS in Fash­ion Mer­chan­dis­ing Management

3. Purdue University

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty’s afford­able fash­ion degree pro­vides stu­dents with a BS in Retail Man­age­ment — Appar­el Design con­cen­tra­tion. Stu­dents learn about cor­po­rate retail, the world of fash­ion and how it fits into oth­er busi­ness­es. Core cur­ricu­lum cours­es include tex­tiles, appar­el design, visu­al mer­chan­dis­ing and a prac­ti­cal com­po­nent that cov­ers man­age­ment, e‑commerce, and pur­chas­ing. This com­pre­hen­sive pro­gram pre­pares stu­dents for the busi­ness world and fea­tures cours­es in sales, account­ing, HR and relat­ed top­ics. Grad­u­ates emerge with in-depth knowl­edge of how to design and man­u­fac­ture cloth­ing and appar­el. They also learn how peo­ple make deci­sions about the clothes they buy so that they have a firm under­stand­ing of how con­sumer sci­ence works.

Pur­due is locat­ed in Wabash Town­ship, Indi­ana. This top-rank­ing pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty has near­ly 32,000 under­grad­u­ates. Approx­i­mate­ly three out of five stu­dents who apply receive a let­ter of accep­tance from the uni­ver­si­ty. Those that do go on to major in sub­jects such as com­put­er sci­ence, mechan­i­cal engi­neer­ing and busi­ness. The school has a phe­nom­e­nal grad­u­a­tion rate of 82%.

What We Like: Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty is ranked #1 among the state’s Top Pub­lic Universities.

Degree: BS in Retail Man­age­ment with Appar­el Design and Technology

4. Lamar University

Anoth­er afford­able fash­ion degree, Lamar University’s BS in Fash­ion Mer­chan­dis­ing, gives stu­dents pro­fes­sion­al train­ing for a breath of careers in fash­ion. They have a study abroad pro­gram in France that height­ens stu­dents’ expo­sure to Euro­pean cul­ture and fash­ion. Cours­es in the pro­gram cov­er human resources, visu­al mer­chan­dis­ing, retail man­age­ment, pur­chas­ing, styling, and adver­tis­ing and pro­mo­tions. There’s also a strong entre­pre­neur­ial ele­ment to cours­es that will appeal to stu­dents who want to start their own agency or consultancy.

Lamar is based in Beau­mont, TX, and has over 5,700 under­grad­u­ates. This mid­size school has a high accep­tance rate of 84% and pop­u­lar majors include nurs­ing, lib­er­al arts and business.

What We Like: The school’s high accep­tance rate gives more stu­dents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to study fash­ion in the heartland.

Degree: Bach­e­lor’s Degree in Fash­ion Merchandising

Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Fash­ion Merchandising

5. Middle Tennesse State University

Mid­dle Ten­nessee State Uni­ver­si­ty has an afford­able fash­ion degree. The school’s focus on appar­el design blends prac­ti­cal knowl­edge with cre­ativ­i­ty. Appli­cants typ­i­cal­ly have a flair for draw­ing and design­ing cloth­ing. They also learn the busi­ness side of this bil­lion-dol­lar indus­try. MTSU has the only design pro­gram at a Ten­nessee pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty that stands out among the few pro­grams avail­able in the southeast.

Mid­dle Ten­nessee State has near­ly 16,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents and is locat­ed in the Nashville area. Most stu­dents who apply receive the green light from the admis­sions com­mit­tee. This gives many oppor­tu­ni­ties to stu­dents who want to study com­mu­ni­ca­tions, human­i­ties and music man­age­ment as well as fashion.

What We Like: The school has a tremen­dous accep­tance rate of 94%.

Degree: Appar­el Design

Mid­dle Ten­nessee State Uni­ver­si­ty Appar­el Design

6. Sam Houston State University

Anoth­er afford­able fash­ion degree in Texas, Sam Hous­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty’s BS or BA in Fash­ion Mer­chan­dis­ing embarks stu­dents on an excit­ing jour­ney in a dynam­ic indus­try. Grad­u­ates emerge ready to take on jobs in appar­el buy­ing, retail man­age­ment, mer­chan­dis­ing and promotions.

This above-aver­age uni­ver­si­ty based in Huntsville, Texas, has more than 15,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. About four out of five stu­dents who apply receive an accep­tance let­ter and major in areas such as busi­ness, safe­ty stud­ies, and lib­er­al arts.

What We Like: The uni­ver­si­ty ranks num­ber eleven among the top uni­ver­si­ties in the state.

Degree: BS/BA in Fash­ion Merchandising

Sam Hous­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty BS or BA in Fash­ion Merchandising

7. Appalachian State University

Appalachi­an State Uni­ver­si­ty has an afford­able fash­ion degree that results in a BS in Appar­el Design and Mer­chan­dis­ing. Stu­dents learn the art of mar­ket­ing tex­tiles and appar­el prod­ucts. The pro­gram gives grad­u­ates a firm under­stand­ing of how the tex­tile indus­try works. They obtain skills to devel­op prod­ucts for con­sumers in the dis­tri­b­u­tion, mar­ket­ing, pro­duc­tion and mer­chan­dis­ing of apparel.

Appalachi­an State Uni­ver­si­ty main­tains small class sizes so that stu­dents receive per­son­al­ized atten­tion in-stu­dio class­es and intern­ship prepa­ra­tion class­es. A strong career coun­sel­ing depart­ment helps stu­dents find jobs with major retail­ers in Atlanta, New York, Charleston, Wash­ing­ton D.C., New York and as far away as South America.

What We Like: Appalachi­an State is ranked num­ber three among North Car­oli­na’s top pub­lic schools.

Degree: BS in Appar­el Design and Merchandising

Appalachi­an State Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Appar­el Design and Merchandising

8. University of Georgia

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia’s afford­able fash­ion degree offers stu­dents the back­ground need­ed to find jobs in fash­ion mer­chan­dis­ing. This includes oppor­tu­ni­ties with man­u­fac­tur­ers, mar­ket research firms and retail­ers. Grad­u­ates often start their own busi­ness­es and impact the indus­try with their cre­ativ­i­ty and inno­va­tion. Stu­dents com­plete intern­ships at fash­ion hous­es, study abroad, meet with cor­po­rate exec­u­tives and start stu­dent-owned busi­ness­es. The pro­gram offers numer­ous areas of con­cen­tra­tion includ­ing fash­ion brand man­age­ment. As an exam­ple, stu­dents in this cur­ricu­lum focus their stud­ies on entre­pre­neur­ship, glob­al retail, glob­al sourc­ing, fash­ion pro­mo­tion, trend analy­sis, fash­ion prod­ucts and brand man­age­ment and glob­al sourcing.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia is based in Athens, Geor­gia. Approx­i­mate­ly 28,000 stu­dents attend at the under­grad­u­ate lev­el but few­er than half of appli­cants receive an accep­tance let­ter. The school grad­u­ates a phe­nom­e­nal 87% of incom­ing fresh­men and earns A+ rat­ings from stu­dents in nich­es such as aca­d­e­mics, best val­ue for mon­ey and diver­si­ty on campus.

What We Like: Geor­gia is the #11 ranked Top Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ties in the country.

Degree: Fash­ion Merchandising

Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia Fash­ion Merchandising

9. University of North Texas

Stu­dents can find an afford­able fash­ion degree at the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas. As fash­ion design majors, stu­dents here gain pro­fes­sion­al skills need­ed to sketch and com­plete gar­ments for con­sumers. The pro­gram empha­sizes art research, trend analy­sis and fash­ion his­to­ry and includes cours­es such as drap­ing, flat pat­tern­mak­ing, com­put­er-aid­ed design, fash­ion draw­ing and sewing. Grad­u­ates of the pro­gram reflect the strength of the cur­ricu­lum. Stu­dents get an oppor­tu­ni­ty to make an impres­sion on prospec­tive employ­ers when they com­pete in nation­al and inter­na­tion­al fash­ion events.

North Texas is a well-regard­ed pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty with more than 25,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. This large insti­tu­tion accepts 71% of stu­dents in pop­u­lar majors such as psy­chol­o­gy, biol­o­gy and lib­er­al arts.

What We Like: Sev­en out of 10 stu­dents who apply receive an accep­tance let­ter, giv­ing bud­ding fash­ion­istas a good chance of get­ting into the university.

Degree: BFA in Fash­ion Design

Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas BFA in Fash­ion Design

10. University of Hawaii at Manoa

Offer­ing an afford­able fash­ion degree in par­adise, The Uni­ver­si­ty of Hawaii at Manoa gives stu­dents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to express their cre­ativ­i­ty. The UH Manoa’s fash­ion design and mer­chan­dis­ing degree con­fers a bach­e­lor of sci­ence on those who com­plete the course­work suc­cess­ful­ly. Stu­dents learn fash­ions par­tic­u­lar to Hawaii as well as glob­al fash­ion trends in prepa­ra­tion for careers in retail­ing, design and mer­chan­dis­ing. Stu­dents can spe­cial­ize in fash­ion design or fash­ion mer­chan­dis­ing. Those who choose fash­ion design learn how to illus­trate, sew and devel­op pat­terns for cloth­ing. Advanced class­es involve sophis­ti­cat­ed appar­el con­struc­tion using com­put­er-aid­ed design tools. Grad­u­ates com­plete their pro­gram by show­cas­ing their cre­ations at an annu­al fash­ion show. Fash­ion mer­chan­dis­ing majors learn how to fore­cast fash­ion trends and man­age the sup­ply chain and retail ele­ments of the indus­try. They use com­put­er soft­ware to com­plete course­work that pre­pares them for careers as entre­pre­neurs or in the trade.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Hawaii accepts 84% of stu­dents who apply. This pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty has more than 10,700 under­grad­u­ates. Those who are accept­ed major in areas such as psy­chol­o­gy and nursing.

What We Like: The uni­ver­si­ty ranks #3 among the best col­leges in the state.

Degree: BS in Fash­ion Design and Merchandising

UH Manoa’s BS in Fash­ion Design and Merchandising

How Do I Save Money on a Fashion Degree?

There are two major branch­es of fash­ion degrees: design and mer­chan­dis­ing. Stu­dents are required to buy their own tools and fab­rics in order to cre­ate their own design style, meet course require­ments, and build gar­ments for the fash­ion show that is also the senior year final project. Sav­ing mon­ey on these require­ments is pos­si­ble, and many stu­dents build their col­lec­tions out of inex­pen­sive fab­rics. The fact remains that these pur­chas­es have to be made and there­fore add to the over­all cost of even the fash­ion design schools.

Fash­ion mer­chan­dis­ing does not require stu­dents to buy tools, fab­rics and notions. The mer­chan­dis­ing side of fash­ion design com­bines under­stand­ing how gar­ments are made, the cul­tur­al sen­si­tiv­i­ties involved with man­u­fac­tur­ing gar­ments over­seas, indus­try-relat­ed account­ing tech­niques, and how to work with and for retail­ers. The major dif­fer­ence between fash­ion design and fash­ion mer­chan­dis­ing is that mer­chan­dis­ing focus­es pri­mar­i­ly on the busi­ness side of fash­ion along with the need to oper­ate a sup­ply chain, then deliv­er goods to retailers.

Can I Get a Fashion Degree for Free?

You can’t nec­es­sar­i­ly get a full online fash­ion degree free, but you can find a free online fash­ion design­ing course with cer­tifi­cate that adds to your exist­ing edu­ca­tion and gives you a usable cre­den­tial. The free online fash­ion design cours­es with cer­tifi­cates pro­vide a gen­er­al overview of the fash­ion design indus­try and typ­i­cal­ly have no hands-on require­ments. That is, the free online fash­ion design cours­es focus on explor­ing dif­fer­ent themes and top­ics in fash­ion design.

These free online fash­ion design cours­es with cer­tifi­cates have val­ue in that they build up your edu­ca­tion and knowl­edge in the indus­try, but they’re most­ly ben­e­fi­cial for peo­ple who want to learn more about the top­ics to add to their exist­ing edu­ca­tion. There is nev­er any­thing wrong with con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion or study­ing an area that’s out­side of your field. You nev­er know when you’ll find an employ­er who val­ues the knowl­edge you’ve made the effort to learn.

Will a Certification Help My Career?

Fash­ion design cer­ti­fi­ca­tions can help your career, espe­cial­ly if you’re enter­ing into the fash­ion mer­chan­dis­ing field or want to broad­en your sell­able skills. You can get a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion to become a fash­ion styl­ist, fash­ion graph­ic artist or spe­cial­ize in tex­tile engi­neer­ing. The beau­ty of fash­ion design cer­ti­fi­ca­tions is that they’re plen­ti­ful, var­i­ous and let you focus and gain pro­fi­cien­cy in a spe­cif­ic skill set. If you’re a work­ing pro­fes­sion­al in the field of fash­ion design and want to learn about a spe­cif­ic area of the indus­try, fash­ion design cer­ti­fi­ca­tions def­i­nite­ly help your career. The more prac­ti­cal or spe­cial­ized knowl­edge you have, the bet­ter your career options.

How Much Can I Make with a Fashion Degree?

Accord­ing to the BLS, the medi­an fash­ion salary in 2019 was $73,790. There is no direct fash­ion mer­chan­dis­ing degree salary, but the medi­an salary for pur­chas­ing man­agers, buy­ers and agents was $69,600 in 2019. How much you actu­al­ly earn as a fash­ion design­er or mer­chan­dis­er depends on the type of posi­tion you land along with where you are in the hier­ar­chy of the role. Salaries are typ­i­cal­ly low­er when work­ing as an assis­tant to a fash­ion design­er or in a gar­ment man­u­fac­tur­ing facil­i­ty, but high­er when work­ing in roles that reflect expe­ri­ence and skill. The same goes for a fash­ion mer­chan­dis­er who works as an assis­tant or in a entry-lev­el role and finds advance­ment is pos­si­ble after spend­ing time learn­ing about the ins and outs of the industry.

Salaries for both the fash­ion design and fash­ion mer­chan­dis­ing role depend on geo­graph­ic loca­tion. It’s a giv­en that salaries are going to be high­est in Los Ange­les or New York City due to the size of the fash­ion design indus­tries in both cities. Oth­er region­al areas are also worth look­ing into as clothes are some­thing peo­ple need on a dai­ly basis and replace reg­u­lar­ly. Region­al retail­ers are also in need of design­ers and mer­chan­dis­ers to cre­ate in-house designs and devel­op mer­chan­dis­ing strate­gies to sell clothes to con­sumers. Salaries in less-pop­u­lous areas may not be as high as they are in major met­ro­pol­i­tan areas, but they’re usu­al­ly com­men­su­rate with the cost of liv­ing for the area.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bachelor’s in Fashion

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Fashion

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Fashion