The MFA Creative Writing Distance Learning Programs Actually Worth Your Time (And Money)

Most working writers who have thought about getting a master’s degree have been through a time when fantasy and reality meet. It looks beautiful on the brochure. The list of faculty reads like a schedule for a literary event. Then you look at your life, like your job, your rent, your health, or just where you live, and the idea quietly falls apart. That was just the way things were for a long time. You did or did not go.

That calculation has changed. Not drastically or overnight, but in a real way. Over the past ten years, MFA creative writing distance learning programs have grown in the UK and beyond. The better ones have really gotten past the early problems that came with online learning.

For example, the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University now offers its full MFA through online distance learning, part-time, and in a number of specialized tracks, such as writing for children, fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. There are serious, working writers on the faculty. Some of the results are published books. The Writing School has “a real sense of family, achievement, and celebration,” according to Carol Ann Duffy. This could be marketing copy or a true reflection of the culture. Most likely a mix of the two.

Not only should you be aware that these programs exist, but also the people they’ve begun to attract. Writers who used to think that distance learning wasn’t worth the time are now changing their minds. Oyinkan Braithwaite, who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Stefan Mohammed, who won the Dylan Thomas Prize, are both graduates of Kingston University’s distance learning MA program. That’s not a small list of alumni. It sounds like real things are happening in those virtual classrooms, like workshops that work, feedback that gets delivered, and communities that form despite the distance.

To be honest, it’s still not clear if this is true for all online programs. The market has grown so quickly that there is a wide range of quality. Some programs are very strict, while others seem to be based mostly on getting people to sign up. Some things that wouldn’t have been eligible for the MFA label a few years ago seem to now fit under it. People who are really thinking about going down this path should ask tough questions about the size of the workshop, the hours of contact with the tutor, and what “one-to-one supervision” really means, since that phrase can mean a lot of different things.

The MLitt at the University of Glasgow, the fully online MA at Exeter, and the MA in Contemporary Creative Writing at Northeastern University London all use a slightly different method. Critical thinking and creative practice are both emphasized in Glasgow. Exeter lets you go at your own pace. Northeastern focuses on modern literature from the last 25 years, which can be good or bad for you as a reader, depending on your preferences. With concentrations in YA, sci-fi, fantasy, and historical fiction, the Lincoln MFA goes even deeper into genre. This is part of a larger shift in literary culture that is starting to take more popular forms seriously.

Cost is an important thing to think about here. For home students, Manchester Metropolitan’s fees are about £1,767 per 30 credits, which is a lot less than many full-time residential programs. Northeastern costs about £10,000 for the whole degree. Both numbers are important, but when you add up the costs of housing, lost wages, and full-time commitment, the comparison to residential programs often looks different than it seems at first.

The randomness of campus life is something that distance learning can’t really replace, at least not fully. The talks that happened after the workshop. The book that someone suggests you read while you wait for coffee. The slow accumulation of being in a place where you can write. Some programs try to approximate this through optional residency days or annual summer events, which is a reasonable compromise rather than a perfect solution.

Still, watching this space over the past few years, there’s something worth acknowledging: the writers emerging from these programs are publishing, winning prizes, building careers. The method, it turns out, matters less than the commitment brought to it.