She could start by looking at the education, employment and salary figures for interior designers. Try http://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/interior-designers.htm

Then look at college and university websites. Most have easily accessible information on recent graduates' job statistics and average college debt. Interior design is more likely to be offered as a major at state universities than private universities and colleges. A business major or minor is another option that may open more doors.

Parsons School of Design and Fashion Institute of Technology (NYC) and Rhode Island School of Design are very good as well, depending on where she would like to go. NYC is the epicenter of many professions, including interior design.

Wherever she goes, make sure you inquire about what the school does to help its students obtain internships and employment after graduation. If they don't have a good placement record, move on. College is so expensive, and you want to make sure she'll get a good return on the investment. I teach at a business school in New York and we are proud of our placement record--over 95% of our graduates obtain employment at or before graduation. Many of them have internships throughout their college years from freshman year on, and these internships become permanent jobs after graduation.

The most financially successful people working in interior design usually don't have a formal education in interior design for several reasons. The most important elements in being a successful interior designer are sales ability, being creative, having great spacial relations, and being a detail oriented person. Most of these traits you can't teach and if you don't have them in abundance you will never succeed. And if you do it doesn't matter what your major was in college, if you choose a career in interior design or kitchen and bath design you will eventually succeed. So I would take a step back and really evaluate if I had these abilities first. The world is full of underemployed people that fancied themselves stylish and were interested in design but didn't have the traits and abilities needed to succeed. If I believed I possessed these traits then I would either pursue a starting position after high school in retail possibly at a home center working in the interior design or kitchen and bath departments. Or I would go to college and major in something practical like accounting, business, architecture, engineering, or teaching. If after I finished college I still wanted to be a designer I would try my hand, knowing that I was now better educated and more employable and could use much of what I learned in college in my interior design career. Majoring in interior design can be a bit of a waste since successful interior designers rarely teach. In some respects I think most lesser design schools teach the bad habits and misguided philosophies of the teachers that couldn't succeed in the real world at the courses that they are teaching.

Fashion and Interior design are very different careers. We would actually be less likely to hire a person from a fashion background then one with either no college but some sales experience or one with an education in something less ethereal.

I know nothing of FIDM, but after a google search saw that it is a for-profit institution. I'd stay far away from those types of "colleges." They are usually more interested in their own bottom lines than yours.

As for Main Line's take on being a successful interior designer, I agree with much of it. If you define "success" in financial terms (and I do when it comes to one's livelihood) then many of the world-renowned designers (Mario Buatta, Charlotte Moss, Elissa Cullman) are the ones with the very wealthy and famous clients. And they obtained those clients through connections, either family or business. Most interior designers are not in that league, but if you want to become an ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) Professional, you need the educational credentials (bachelors degree), plus passing the NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification) exam, and work experience. I agree if you just think you are "good with colors" and have an interest in decoration and design, then you don't need the formal education, but you will have a difficult time making a living from it.

Wherever you decide to go to school, for whatever degree, make sure that you go to the best school you can afford for your field, and do your due diligence on the job market for the career you select. As Main Line says, a college degree in a practical/technical field such as accounting, engineering, nursing, architecture or business gives you the most opportunities for a career after college. Unfortunately, the arts are notoriously difficult to find employment in.

No sense in going to a school that is not accredited. Check the ASID website for accredited institutions.

https://www.asid.org/content/becoming-interior-designer#.Vnq03fkrKM8

The ASID and the NKBA give out accreditations but customers rarely ask for your accreditation, they want to see your portfolio, and employers usually only want to know about your sales experience. We give tests to the designers we hire and there seems to be no relation between whether they are CKD's to how well they preform on our exam and most importantly to their success in selling which is how they get paid. About all that can be said for being a CKD is that they can't be completely incompetent. And the person who got the highest score on our exam was actually a terrible designer and salesperson. So you can even be very knowledgeable, but if you can't direct customers towards good designs, command their respect, close the deal, and not make mistakes, you can't make a living.

I don't disagree with what Main Line has stated, but with more and more states requiring interior designers to be licensed, you can't get an interior design license without passing the test and being accredited & you can't open an interior design business without a license.

@Beverly Very true but passing the test is very easy and in the states I know of you can be working in the industry for a few years to be eligible to be licensed after passing the test. And you would be silly opening a business without having years of experience first. The Government does threaten occasionally to demand a more formal education but since the best in our field didn't go to design school that would be an uphill battle. Most likely they will someday require certification because the marketing paper mills like the NKBA that put out the accreditation have a lobbying force. But if they do they won't require a design degree because that would mean less money to the government and the certification body. Just a prediction.

Read all of the Houzz posts excoriating designers. Think about the active scorn that will be thrown her way. Even downright viciousness. Then read real world data as to how much they make. Then decide if you want her living in your basement until she's 40 with various fabric samples strewn about and a 15 year old car.

Then steer her towards going to work as a plumber's helper. She can make 4x what a designer does in 5 years. If she gets her master plumber's license, she's set for life with a very comfortable living and a great shock answer to the ''what do you do'' question at parties.

Rhode Island School of Design, New York School of Visual Design, Parsons and FIT