@MTTwinsinCA thanks for jumping in. I am always reluctant to pretend to know more than I do about a program I have no personal experience with and would hate to be the last and lingering word about it.
NYU Tisch’s MT studio doesn’t use grad students for private voice instruction either and I believe they share many of their fine instructors with NYU Steinhardt. I would agree that proximity to NYC is a bonus. My daughter’s voice teacher is a goddess, Fulbright Scholar and opera star with a doctorate in Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy. As impressive as that is, what really counts is that she is a excellent teacher who believes in her students so wholeheartedly that they begin to believe in themselves too. Huge fan.