New York School of Interior Design (NYSID) is a 105-year-old private, non-profit college focused exclusively on "design of the interior environment." The college's main building is located on East 70th Street in Manhattan's Upper East Side; the graduate center is at Park Avenue and 28th Street in the Rose Hill neighborhood.
The school began in 1915 when architect Sherrill Whiton launched a Home Study Course in Decorative Arts. The original course covered eleven subjects, including Color Theory, Tapestries, Rugs and Carpets and Lighting Fixtures. The course's success led to the creation of a physical school the following year. It received its charter from the New York State Board of Regents in 1924 and steadily expanded its course catalog to include classes in the business of interior design. In addition to founding the school, Whiton wrote an influential - and still-used - textbook on interior design, Elements of Interior Decoration, first published in 1937 and now in its sixth edition.
At first named New York School of Interior Decoration, the school changed its moniker in 1951, as the nascent profession had come to encompass not just decor but all non-structural elements of interior space. The school moved to its current home on East 70th Street in 1994. The building is a four-story Beaux-Arts carriage house dating to 1900. The school soon expanded to include an adjacent space on 69th Street. In 2010 the LEED Platinum-certified graduate center opened. The college has an increasing focus on sustainability.
Today, NYSID offers a non-degree Basic Interior Design certificate (on-site and online), an Associate in Applied Science in Interior Design (on-site and online), Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design, Master of Fine Arts in Interior Design, Master of Professional Studies in Healthcare Interior Design, Post-professional Master of Fine Arts (for those with a related degree), Master of Professional Studies in Lighting Design, and Master of Professional Studies in Sustainable Interior Environments (on-site and online). The college also offers a joint course of study at the Masters's level with Sotheby's Institute of Art. Courses taken in the Basic Interior Design certificate program can be applied to the pursuit of an Associate or Bachelor's degree.
Tuition for all undergraduate and non-degree certificate programs is $1,095 per credit, or $39,420 per year, assuming the student is taking two 18-credit hour semesters. Graduate tuition is $18,600 per semester. The school offers a variety of study abroad and domestic travel study opportunities and robust career and internship placement support services.
The college has an enrollment of 538, with 381 undergraduate and 157 graduate students. 22% of the student body is international, hailing from 35 countries. The average student age is 30.
NYSID claims over 3,000 alumni, including Mariette Himes Gomez, a perennial on Architectural Digest's AD100 list, and Drew McGukin, whose works are frequently seen in Manhattan lofts and brownstones.
New York School of Interior Design currently has two academic buildings. The main building is located at 170 East 70th Street, and the Graduate Center is located at 401 Park Avenue South.
Student housing is offered through the Educational Housing Service, a non-profit company that provides dorm-like housing for students and interns. They offer five buildings in Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan, and prices are comparable to other residence halls.
If you are attending NYSID and looking for off-campus housing, consider checking out apartments for rent in the Upper East Side, or Kips Bay and Murray Hill if you want to stay close to the Park Avenue South campus. While rents for studios or one-bedroom apartments are relatively high in these neighborhoods, rooms for rent can be a lot more affordable if you can find friends or classmates to share a unit.
Since many NYSID students are working professionals, they can be seen almost everywhere in New York City, from FiDi in Manhattan to Dumbo in Brooklyn.
Interested in attending NYSID? Check out RentHop's subway rent map and see which subway stops on the 4,5, and 6 lines are the cheapest.
For alumni who stay in the city, most are spread throughout all five boroughs.
For people first moving into New York City, check out the RentHop Renters Guide. The guide explains everything you need to know about renting in the Big Apple, from finding your ideal apartment to signing the lease and completing the rental process.