Best Value Schools is hiring: Best 19 Masters in Animation Programs in 2025 in S

January 13, 2025 | Admin

If you’re looking for something creative, love drawing and animation, or are looking for a way to break into the film industry, a masters in animation might be the right degree for you. But with so many different schools to choose from, each with its own particular focus, it can be hard to find the right degree for you, especially if you’re trying to decide between tradition and online animation degrees .

What Should You Look For in an Animation Degree?

The schools on this list are all offering graduate-level masters degrees in animation — but this doesn’t mean that they’re all identical. Some schools choose to concentrate on traditional film animation while others provide a broader education in digital media. Employers will be looking for graduates with practical, hands-on experience in animation, so look for schools that provide you with industry-specific training and the opportunity to build a portfolio by creating your own digital media and animation projects.

What Can You Do With a Masters in Animation?

Equipped with a masters in animation, you can choose to focus on creating your own original artwork or to work for major producers including Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks. Potential jobs available to masters in animation graduate include animators, characters designers, editors, art directors, and production designers. Animation degrees can be a lucrative career choice — according to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics , the average salary for multimedia artists and animators is $75,270 per year.

We compiled a list of schools around the country that provide masters in animation programs and ranked the top 19 schools. We used annual tuition rates and the number of required credit hours to rank the schools. Check out our rankings below to find the best value master of animation degrees in the United States.

Best 19 Masters in Animation Programs in 2025

1. San Jose State University

   • San Jose, California

   The Cadre Laboratory for New Media at San Jose State University offers a Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in digital media art. The degree provides opportunities for technical research and project-oriented development of digital media art and emphasizes creative experimentation within a context of historical, cultural, technical, and theoretical study. Faculty and graduate students produce electronic artworks including data visualizations, computer games, net art, interactive art, projection mapping, performance, and data-driven interactive digital media projects.

2. University of Central Florida

   The School of Visual Arts and Design at the University of Central Florida offers a Master of Fine Arts in emerging media — animation and visual effects. This specialized program is designed to emulate both the professional and independent studio environment, providing students with opportunities to assume an artistic leadership role. Principal emphasis is placed on narrative film structure and entrepreneurial aspects of animation as related to independent filmmaking, studio employment, and job creation. Students in the masters in animation program will have opportunities to co-direct a team of undergraduate character animation students and create their own animation or visual effects thesis.

3. Bowling Green State University

   • Bowling Green, Ohio

   Bowling Green State University offers a Master of Fine arts in digital arts with a concentration in 3D modeling and animation. The program is designed to prepare students to become both professional artists in industry and university-level instructors while developing their own studio practice. All supported graduate students are provided with studio space and computers. The masters in animation curriculum includes technical instruction in inverse kinematics, particle systems and dynamics, deformations, scripting, and compositing as well as advanced modeling, rendering, and animation techniques using state-of-the-art software.

4. Texas A&M University

   Texas A&M University offers a Master of Fine Arts in visualization, a technology-infused visual arts-oriented degree. Students master the use of artistic visual communication and expression through the combined use of digital and analog mediums. The curriculum is highly interdisciplinary and encourages the development of new technologies and creative applications to create deeper insight and understanding. Graduates are equipped with a balance of artistic insight and technical prowess that sets them apart from their peers.

5. New York Institute of Technology

   Students at the New York Institute of Technology can pursue a Master of Fine Arts in digital art and design — animation. In this masters in animation, students will develop a competitive portfolio of innovative computer animation, readying them for careers as leaders on both the business and creative side of the industry. Students have opportunities to hone their personal style through courses in character, storytelling, and storyboard development, digital compositing, and special effects experimentation.

Still looking for a masters in animation program? Use our degree finder tool to help you find the right fit.

Our Ranking Methodology

To determine how to rank each college, we researched and evaluated each school’s estimated annual cost of tuition and the number of required credit hours. We used in-state and on-campus tuition rates where available. We took all information directly from each school’s website. We sorted each school first by the cost of tuition (lower is better) and then by number of credit hours (fewer is better), letting each value make up equal portions (50%) of the final rankings. Where schools were tied in the rankings, we gave additional weight to the cost of tuition.

If you work for one of the schools we ranked and you notice an error in the information we used to rank you, please feel free to contact us and let us know so we can make a correction.

Whether you’re trying to start your career or make a big change, we can help you find the perfect school to help you reach your goals.

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