Why Choose Spalding

At the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing, you’ll write more and receive more faculty feedback than in less rigorous programs. Writers flourish with this extra attention in our encouraging, non-competitive environment. Friendships form at Louisville’s historic Brown Hotel, our elegant “dormitory” near campus. Flexible scheduling and affordable tuition put a top-tier low residency graduate writing education within reach.

Our community includes more than 700 alumni and students and more than three dozen faculty members who are actively publishing and producing, teaching, winning awards, and making an impact as literary citizens.

We’re proud of the extremely high-quality educational experience we offer and our ability to make it available to serious writers in an affordable way.

Student learning is enriched by the size and diversity of our distinguished faculty.

During residencies in Louisville, you can stay at the historic, four-star Brown Hotel for about the same price as other programs charge for a room in a student dormitory.

We sustain the mind and body with intellectual discussion and unlimited free coffee on campus.

During virtual residencies, you’ll engage with the same curriculum provided during on-campus residencies, without the travel time and expense.

Our MFA program is a substantial 65 credits, yet our tuition is the most affordable of any top-tier low-residency MFA program.

Our intensive, 35-credit Master of Arts in Writing and one-semester Graduate Certificate in Writing offer outstanding, affordable graduate education in creative writing.

You can matriculate into the MAW or MFA program, meaning you can earn a certificate + master’s or two master’s for about the price of one master’s degree.

As an MFA student, you can take a semester in another creative writing genre and still graduate in four semesters.

Unlike other programs, Spalding does not charge a registration fee, residency fee, or graduation fee.

Scholarships and graduate assistantships are available.

At Spalding, you’ll write more and receive more faculty feedback than in most other low-residency programs. For instance, in the MFA program, prose and script writers receive detailed expert commentary on up to 225 pages of new and revised creative writing each semester; poets and picture book writers receive mentored critique on up to 35 new and revised poems or picture books each semester. MAW and Graduate Certificate students complete the same amount of work as MFA students each semester. Few other programs can match that volume of in-depth critique.

At Spalding, you’ll choose the content of your independent study courses, the pace of your semesters, and the way you attend residencies—on campus in Louisville, or virtually from home. Read more about the unmatched flexibility of our scheduling and studies.