The Low-Residency Advantage

Low-Residency means you don't have to relocate to Saint Paul, Minnesota, to complete your MFA. For most of our two-year program, you work independently from home with your faculty advisor, enabling you to maintain your work and family life while building a strong student-mentor relationship. Twice a year, you journey to Hamline's picturesque campus for 11 exhilarating days of lectures, workshops, seminars and readings devoted exclusively to writing for children and young adults. The bonds you will knit are woven tightly into your future.

While you are here, explore Hamline's 
beautiful campus and the Twin Cities!
 The beautiful and culturally diverse “Twin Cities” of Saint Paul and Minneapolis form an exciting urban backdrop to the MFAC program. 

Hamline University, with its beautifully landscaped campus, is located in Saint Paul only a few miles from the Twin Cities International Airport. 

Historic downtown Saint Paul features the Fitzgerald Theater, home to Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion,” the Minnesota Children’s Museum, and the Minnesota Historical Society History Center.  

Nearby Minneapolis boasts the newly designed, state-of-the-art Walker Art Center and Guthrie Theater, the Children’s Theater, The Loft Literary Center, numerous literary presses and publishers of children’s and YA literature, and shops and restaurants to suit every taste. 

In addition, residencies include regular visits to the famed University of Minnesota Kerlan Collection to see original manuscripts written and illustrated by the world’s best writers and artists. 

Hear more about it from students, faculty and alumni: