(This article reports on news from May 2025.)
The furnishings and interiors program at the University of Georgia received the 2025 Excellence in Education Award from the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA), the trade association for the kitchen and bath industry. The award recognized the quality and consistency of the entries UGA students submitted to the NKBA Student Design Competition in the 2023–24 school year, and UGA was one of seven programs honored (UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences, May 30, 2025).
The students were taught by Thea Ellenberg, a lecturer in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors. “I am incredibly proud that NKBA has recognized the level of work that my students have submitted to the contest,” she said.
About the award
The NKBA Student Design Competition, sponsored by Fisher & Paykel, receives hundreds of kitchen and bath design entries every year. A school earns the Excellence in Education Award when at least three entries from three different students each score 80 points or more. The seven programs recognized in June 2025 for the 2023–24 competition were (NKBA, June 3, 2025):
- Lakeland College, Vermilion, Alberta
- Century College, White Bear Lake, Minnesota, whose student won first place in the kitchen category
- Cañada College, Redwood City, California
- Bow Valley College, Calgary, Alberta
- Georgian College, Ontario
- Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, California, whose student took second place for a kitchen design
- University of Georgia, Athens
UGA was the only university on the list; the other six recipients are colleges in the United States and Canada.
Two ways to study interior design at UGA
UGA offers interior design in two different colleges, and the difference matters for licensing.
| Furnishings and Interiors | Interior Design | |
|---|---|---|
| Degree | B.S. in Family and Consumer Sciences (BSFCS) | Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) |
| Home | Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors, College of Family and Consumer Sciences | Lamar Dodd School of Art, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences |
| Focus | Residential, commercial, hospitality, universal, sustainable and kitchen and bath design; seven studio courses; AutoCAD, Revit and SketchUp | Six-semester studio sequence with heavy CAD (Autodesk Revit) work, including large-scale non-residential design |
| Accreditation | Not stated on the program page | CIDA and NASAD; meets the education requirement for the NCIDQ exam |
| Entry | Apply through the College of Family and Consumer Sciences | Foundation art courses, two introductory interior design courses, then the fall Interior Design Progression Review (may include a portfolio review, a weekend design project and an academic review) |
Sources: UGA Furnishings and Interiors; Lamar Dodd School of Art, Interior Design.
The furnishings and interiors program has an NKBA student chapter that meets six times a semester with industry speakers and showroom visits, and students can present work at the NKBA Gala and in an annual senior portfolio show. The BFA program reports that 96% of its May 2025 graduates were employed by December 2025 (94% to 97% for 2022–2024), that 75% of 2025 graduates finished in four years, and that it offers a summer studio program in Cortona, Italy.
Careers and licensing
- Pay and jobs: interior designers earned a median of $67,190 in May 2025. The occupation had about 97,100 jobs in 2025 and is projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,700 openings a year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
- Licensing: rules vary by state. Some states allow only licensed designers to do interior design work, while others reserve the title “interior designer” or “registered interior designer” for people who pass a state-approved exam, which generally requires a bachelor’s degree in interior design and two years of full-time work experience (BLS). A CIDA-accredited degree such as UGA’s BFA is the most direct route to the NCIDQ exam.
- Kitchen and bath design: NKBA also runs professional credentials such as the Certified Kitchen and Bath Designer, which UGA lists among career paths for furnishings and interiors graduates.
Notes for international students
- UGA at a glance: UGA received 42,732 first-year applications for fall 2025 and admitted about 38%. International students made up 435 of 32,399 undergraduates in fall 2025, a small share. UGA ranks No. 52 among national universities in the U.S. News 2027 edition (IPEDS data on Forward Pathway’s University of Georgia profile; US Colleges Ranking).
- Cost: international undergraduates pay out-of-state rates: $30,272 tuition plus $1,416 in required fees for 2025–26, and about $11,672 for on-campus housing and food (IPEDS).
- Work after graduation: F-1 graduates can usually work for up to 12 months on OPT. Design degrees are generally not STEM-designated, so confirm the program’s CIP code with UGA’s international student office before counting on a STEM OPT extension.
- Choosing a program: if you plan to become a licensed interior designer, look for CIDA accreditation. If kitchen and bath, residential or retail interiors interest you more, a program like UGA’s furnishings and interiors major, with its NKBA ties, can also be a good fit.
References
- Furnishings and interiors program receives national award for excellence – UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences, May 30, 2025
- Annual Excellence in Education Awards Announced – NKBA, June 3, 2025
- Furnishings and Interiors – UGA Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors
- Interior Design (BFA) – UGA Lamar Dodd School of Art
- Interior Designers – BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook
- University of Georgia – Forward Pathway school profile (IPEDS admissions, enrollment and cost data)
- US Colleges Ranking – Forward Pathway