CalArts Acting?

Hi! I was accepted into CalArts for acting and as excited as I am, I want to know if it’s worth it at its price? Anyone who has been through the program who have been able to slowly but surely pay off their debt? Thanks!

@Texasdreamer Message me and I will connect you to a recent CalArts student

@Texasdreamer - Congratulations on the acceptance! I’m not connected with CalArts (I do think it’s an amazing school!), but please think long and hard about incurring a lot of debt getting a BFA. No matter how good a school is, they can’t guarantee that you will work. I have a freshman Acting D and an alum MT D, and we have friends who went to top programs who are working survival jobs, and friends who are VERY successful and didn’t go to college at all.

I don’t know how much debt you are talking about, but there are loan payment calculators you can find online - figure out amounts and plug in the numbers to see what a repayment schedule would look like. If you have crippling debt, you will have to work constantly and won’t have time to audition. My MT D lives in NYC and auditions pretty frequently, but to be able to pay her bills, she has to work. Most employers don’t let you miss work for an audition. Can your parents help you? Have you gotten your financial aid package? You can ask schools for more money - sometimes they are able to come up with more, so it’s always worth a try. Best of luck to you!

Thank you! It seems like I can’t pm you, I believe I have to become a junior member first?

Thank you so much!! This is very helpful, and no I haven’t received my package yet but I have a feeling I’m going to ask for more aid anyhow, haha

@Texasdreamer just sent you a message. I have a freshman there and give you some financial stats.

My daughter is attending one of the more prestigious HS for drama and just got accepted to CalArts as well. The words of her current HS dean constantly ring in my ears “do not go into massive debt for a BFA, they will never be able to pursue their art”. This was from a man that ran an MFA program at a BIG TIME and EXPENSIVE program. His advice to all the kids and parents was to attend the best school that you can reasonably afford without going broke. This mattered to us in particular given that my GI Bill was only going to go so far for my kid. We got lucky in that CalArts offers huge incentives for military dependents, otherwise this school was off our list, despite my daughter’s talent.

In short, I’d never pay for this school at retail for a total price tag of 200k. You really need to get that down to 40k total for it to make sense financially. Otherwise your kid is going to spend their time paying off loans rather than auditioning or otherwise making art.