With Rhode Island School of Design’s spring semester starting last week, students are scrambling to foot the bill for class art supplies. On the high end, the price of supplies for a single course can reach thousands of dollars.
In spring last year, a majority of students reported having trouble affording the cost of required materials.
“Even today, I went to the store to buy drawing supplies for my first class, and I already spent close to $150 just on supplies — basic things like brushes, pencils, paper and the necessities,” said Lila Ferne, a first-year studying industrial design.
In April 2025, RISD’s Holistic Student Wellness Committee released an executive summary which stated that “60% of students reported trouble affording project materials/supplies.” According to RISD’s website, students spend on average $2,700 per year on materials.
An action plan shared by RISD President Crystal Williams in January 2026 included recommendations for “Holistic Student Wellness.” As part of the initiative, the school plans to “create a toolkit for faculty to foster classrooms that are financially equitable” and “review costs related to majors and support high-and moderate-need students.” RISD is working to implement these plans through 2027.
Some classes on RISD’s course listing website estimate the cost of materials in their course descriptions. FAV 5196-01: “Senior Studio: Animation,” for example, estimates an average cost of $1,000 to $3,000.
Jade Sun, a RISD sophomore studying illustration, said she knows people who have avoided taking certain courses or declaring certain majors “because they felt that cost would be a significant barrier.”
This Wintersession — a five week period between the fall and spring semester — Sun said she took a darkroom photography class that cost her $346 in supplies. “Several people” recommended against taking the class “just because of the cost,” she added.
Especially during their first year at RISD, students can be at the store “pretty much every day” due to a high volume of projects, said Zoe Vaspol, a senior furniture design major.
Multiple students also said that they felt pressure from some professors to buy more expensive supplies.
“My first year, I would always draw with newsprint, since it was just much cheaper than getting nice quality drawing paper,” said Vaspol. “My professor was upset that I hadn’t provided better paper for the crit, even though it felt like to me that it wasn’t that important what kind of paper I was using.”
RISD offers the Materials Fund to some students “based on financial need,” which provides eligible students with $500 per semester to spend on art supplies, according to RISD Associate Director of Public Relations Danielle Mancuso.
Students added that shifting eligibility and lack of knowledge about the Materials Fund have made it less helpful in affording supplies. Multiple students said that they were unaware of the Materials Fund or a program providing financial support for supplies.
Vaspol said that while she qualified for the Materials Fund last year, she did not receive funding this academic year and was not given an explanation from RISD. She remains “really conscious” about the money she is spending and searches for cheaper alternatives for the supplies required for her classes.
“This year, RISD awarded more than half a million dollars in materials funding to students with the greatest need — an increase of 3.7% over last year to more than 550 students,” Mancuso wrote in an email to The Herald.
“For students who do not receive automatic funds based on need, they can meet with Student Financial Services to explore the Materials Fund application process. All of this is communicated to students throughout the aid and enrollment process,” she added.
Students also have the option to purchase their materials through RISD stores, where “steps are taken to support affordability and access,” Mancuso wrote. This includes a 10% general student discount and a 20% discount for students on the Materials Fund. The stores also cut certain materials to size to “allow students to purchase only what they need rather than full sheets or bulk qualities.”
“The goal is sustainability, not excessive profit,” she added.
RISD’s Second Life Exchange, a center which offers free used or leftover materials, provides students an alternative to purchasing art supplies.
“We run entirely on donations, and students are able to come into our store and get five free items at a time, whatever we have available,” Brown-RISD Dual Degree alum Laney Knudson ’23, the reuse specialist at Second Life, said.
Many of the students interviewed by The Herald said that Second Life was a helpful resource to afford materials.
“Second Life is actually such a godsend,” Sun said. “I would say Second Life is the best cost-saving resource that we have at RISD.”
“I was a RISD student, I was also a Brown student, and just seeing the money I would spend on books didn’t even come close to the money I had to spend on arts supplies,” Knudson said. They explained that in addition to helping “offset the costs” of art supplies, Second Life allows students to experiment with new materials in an affordable way.
“Outside of the Materials Resource Fund, individual departments may provide additional support directly to students on a case-by-case basis,” Mancuso wrote to The Herald. “We remain committed to reviewing pricing, working closely with vendors and ensuring students have reliable, convenient access to the materials required for their coursework.”
Izabella Piatkowski is a senior staff writer covering the Rhode Island School of Design.
