New York Film Academy (NYFA)

New York Film Academy (NYFA) is a private college of visual and performing arts with campuses in New York City, Los Angeles (Burbank) and Miami Beach (South Beach). It is accredited by the regional commission WSCUC and awards BFA, MFA, MA and AFA degrees plus one- and two-year certificates. Teaching is project-based: students make their own films from the first semester. On the Summer 2026 schedule, the BFA in Filmmaking costs $165,090 in tuition alone and an estimated $195,959 in total for an F-1 student.

Good fit: students who want to shoot, act on camera or animate rather than study film theory, and who can handle an intensive year-round schedule of three semesters a year. Almost half of the student body is international, from more than 160 countries.

Compare alternatives if you want a traditional university campus with general education, athletics and research labs; film schools inside universities fit that better. On a tight budget, an NYFA certificate is shorter and cheaper than the BFA but does not lead to a degree.

NYFA is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), one of the US regional accreditors recognised by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). In California it operates with approval from the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education as a degree-granting institution. In New York, the State Education Department (NYSED) has registered NYFA to confer BFAs in Acting for Film, Filmmaking, Entertainment Media and Musical Theatre.

In practice, regional accreditation means other US institutions consider NYFA credit and degrees for transfer and graduate admission, and the college can issue the I-20 for an F-1 visa. The receiving institution decides whether transferred credit counts.

General university rankings say little about a creative school. Alumni work, festival screenings and faculty industry links are more useful to review.

BFA programme titles match across campuses, but the setting differs. The Los Angeles campus is in Burbank, a city of film studios and broadcasters. The New York campus is in Manhattan. The South Beach campus in Miami Beach has its own programme list: NYFA does not run every discipline in every city, so check yours in advance.

When choosing a campus, weigh costs as well as atmosphere: Burbank has no dormitory and students rent apartments, while in New York NYFA offers a residence in Brooklyn Heights.

On NYFA’s schedule the BFA in Filmmaking runs nine semesters and the BFA in Acting for Film eight. Because the college teaches year-round, students finish in about three years rather than the four of a typical US bachelor’s.

NYFA sets no hard minimum English score: students below the preferred level are offered the Pathway Track, one or two semesters with language support during which most students already earn credit toward the degree. SAT and ACT are not required from international applicants.

1. 8–10 months before the start. Choose your campus and discipline and start building the portfolio.
2. 6–8 months before. Submit the form, essay, recommendations and work, and complete the interview. Admission is rolling, but each intake has its own deadline.
3. After admission. Pay the $500 deposit; it counts toward the first semester, and $100 of it is non-refundable in all cases.
4. F-1 visa. Receive the I-20, pay the $350 SEVIS fee and the $185 visa fee, and attend the interview. The US Embassy in Moscow does not process student visas for Russian citizens; interviews are held in Astana or Warsaw.

If you cannot start in the chosen semester, you can defer for up to a year by paying the deposit plus a $500 deferral fee; both amounts are credited to the first semester.

• Form I-20 from NYFA.
• SEVIS I-901 fee receipt.
• DS-160 confirmation and visa fee receipt.
• Bank statements and sponsor letters for the amount on the I-20, which covers first-year tuition and living costs.
• Passport and photo.

The consular officer assesses whether your funds are sufficient and whether you intend to return after your studies. Step-by-step guidance and the 2025–2026 changes are in our F-1 student visa guide.

NYFA publishes cost schedules by start date. The most recent one published as of 29 September 2026 is for Summer 2026 starts; prices are guaranteed only one semester at a time, and the school expects an annual increase. New York and Los Angeles rates are identical in that schedule.

These totals exclude housing, food, transport, books and supplies. Students also pay for their own productions, and the cost depends on the scale of each project. As a yardstick, three semesters of the BFA in Filmmaking in 2026/27 come to about $53,790 in tuition, or about $59,850 with equipment fees.

Scholarships. NYFA offers international students three types: talent-based awards judged on the portfolio or audition, need-based awards, and merit awards for BFA applicants, for which foreign transcripts are converted to a US GPA through WES. The NYFA committee sets the amount during admission. Federal Pell grants and FAFSA are not available to international students.

New York. With Educational Housing Services, NYFA offers a residence in Brooklyn Heights, 15 minutes from campus by subway. Rooms are doubles or singles, furnished, with a bathroom, fridge and microwave; there is no meal plan but there is a shared kitchen. You apply for housing after paying the deposit, and each semester’s housing must be paid 30 days before move-in.

Los Angeles. Burbank has no dormitory. NYFA’s housing office helps students find apartments and roommates; the school puts unfurnished rents at $1,700 a month for a studio up to $2,800 for a two-bedroom. It suggests budgeting at least $500 a month for food.

NYFA warns about fake “affordable housing” adverts, so verify any landlord before transferring money. Our guide to student housing in the USA explains how to search and what a lease covers.

Students own the films they make; NYFA only asks for a credit line stating the work was produced at the academy. The careers service and the festival department help promote student work. After a BFA, a graduate in F-1 status may be eligible for OPT under USCIS rules, as explained in our guide to working while studying and OPT.

Common mistakes:

• budgeting on the tuition line without equipment fees and your own production costs;
• confusing an NYFA certificate with a bachelor’s degree;
• choosing Los Angeles without budgeting for rent and a car or transport in Burbank;
• leaving the portfolio to the last minute, when it drives both admission and talent scholarships.

Under an agreement with StudyU we help you choose a discipline and campus, develop the essay, assemble the portfolio and documents, submit the application and prepare for the visa interview. NYFA decides admission and scholarships, the US consulate decides the F-1 visa, and USCIS decides OPT. You can describe your case through our application form.

• NYFA: dates and tuition
• NYFA: full cost schedule for Summer 2026 starts (PDF)
• NYFA: BFA admission requirements
• NYFA: admission rules, deposit and deferral
• NYFA: accreditation and licensing
• NYFA: student housing in New York and Los Angeles
• NYFA: scholarships and grants
• NYFA: international students

NYFA publishes prices in US dollars, so no conversion is needed. Cost schedules, requirements and housing terms were checked on the official NYFA site on 29 September 2026.