I thought this article from Dramatics magazine was one of the best that I have seen in laying out the pitfalls of student loan debt for theatre majors:
https://www.schooltheatre.org/resources/news/shackledbydebt
A few quotes from the article:
No one in a major with tough employment prospects should take out more than their federal loan amounts. It isn’t just an issue for theater majors. Ditto for students who expect to go to grad school and likely will have to pay for that.
This article is great, thanks for sharing!
Its very sobering as well!
@EmsDad Don’t know how I missed this great article! (We can always count on you). Thanks so much for sharing it and the student perspective really speaks in relevant terms to our kids.
Yes, @EmsDad -thank you for sharing. Sobering.
First thing I do with my students and their families is discuss the economics of this process. I think it is crazy for an actor to think they will be in a position to pay off large student loans. If parents are unable to help their children with the loans they should really discourage them from taking them. It is a tremendous challenge for an actor fresh out of school to find time to audition in between the 3 jobs it takes to pay living expenses and student loans. Ultimately they aren’t able to “do their best” auditioning with that type of stress. I make sure the parents are on board with what their child’s journey might be and to be totally honest with their child about their financial situation. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see a child get accepted into their dream school only to be told they can’t afford it. If paying full boat for college is not possible they need to fully understand that without scholarship money even an acceptance doesn’t mean they can go. It is definitely the toughest part about coaching.
I believe that this is likely to be true for the tech kids as well, which is why I insisted that S17 attend a SUNY school from which he will graduate without debt. I made D09 do the same thing for her teaching degree. She graduated with a masters in special ed and decided after one year that she hated teaching. If she had debt, she would not have been able to stop teaching and volunteer with a UJA group for a year.
Thanks for sharing this article. We stressed to our kids that debt was debilitating. I knew first hand that carrying too much debt to get an undergraduate degree stunts your choices after you graduate and I didn’t have nearly the amount of debt that these kids are coming out with. A couple “dream” schools just didn’t make the cut and while it was disappointing at first, my ds and dd now appreciate that they can graduate without being ovewhelmed by debt.
The other aspect not discussed here is that even if actors decide to stop auditioning and take full-time positions in theatre related fields, those salaries are incredibly low, too—with most salaries in the $20K to $40K range for positions like stage managers, theatre tech, company managers, casting, talent management and marketing positions. And that’s in NYC and not just entry level jobs . Recenly, there was a spread sheet going around Facebook in an attempt to disclose how poorly these positions pay in an effort to rally the troops to demand more money.
Other college grads with non-arts majors enter fields just out of school and get entry level jobs in the $50k to $60k range. Few people in theatre ever achieve those numbers many years post-graduation if they stay within the theatre industry exclusively.
Such an important article. Another aspect I’ve been emphasizing to my kids is the ability to be flexible. One of the things I’m working with my two performing arts kids (one music performance, one MT) on is developing a high demand freelance skill. Accounting/bookkeeping, web design, technical writing, etc. They don’t have to have a specific degree (except accounting) for a lot of these opportunities. These are things they can do to make decent money while maintaining flexibility to audition. With a skill like that and no debt, they will have staying power to pursue their dream that waiting tables doesn’t offer. I hope. 
@BassTheatreMom Yes, flexibility is important. Five years post graduation with a MT degree, D is back at school pursuing her MBA. She plans to go into marketing and brand management upon graduation. I know she would love to go back into the business side of entertainment and theatre, but she is willing to gain experience in consumer goods to gain experience. Once she is established at a higher level, she hopes to gain a position in entertainment–especially since there is greater demand to hire executive-level women in this current climate.
Luckily D graduated NYU debt free and is back there on a full tuition scholarship. She took voice lessons last semester and hopes to continue with her voice lessons once working–something she has struggled to do at lower paying jobs.
She has not given up her dream to perform. She is looking at things very long term and hopes to gain financial independence and a stable life first. As a 22 year old she did not want to be on the road or on a cruise ship, auditioning constantly. We are NYC based and she is a master at networking, so I can see her announcing her theatre debut in her 40’s or 50’s in a role for a more mature woman!
Just. Don’t. Do. It. Your kids are still in high school. Your focus is getting into these programs. It is so hard to look much further than that. But my kid is almost a year out and I PROMISE you that a kid with school loans that they have to pay back is at a huge disadvantage in the post-college auditioning world. If YOU can afford to pay the loans back (and I mean really afford it without raping your retirement fund), go for it. But only then. It is a terribly cutthroat business with many talented people, insane competition, and lots of rejection. Even without student loans, keeping above water emotionally and financially is a challenge. Love to you all from the ghost of christmas yet to come… xo
@Calliene 's post above is why I presented my D with a list of only places we could afford without loans, and she researched and picked from there. It helped that she graduated in 2017 and has taken this year off to work, so we have complete info on GPA, class rank, and test scores. It appears to be a quite different list than most of the folks on here, concentrating on state universities that offer OOS tuition waivers and other merit scholarships for (relatively) modest GPA and scores.
We ended up with 12 public/2 private school auditions (and when we got the financial aid/academic scholarship offer from one of the privates, although it was pretty substantial, I don’t think that we could actually afford it anyway.) I know that for the straight-A/1400 SAT students private colleges can be a BETTER deal, that is a totally different ballgame.
I also realize that if we could afford NOTHING without loans, we would have to re-think; but then need-based financial aid would come into play.
I just think that as a struggling performing arts graduate you will need all the pennies you earn to pay for living expenses while you audition, and would not be able to deal with loan repayment too. And my husband and I are old and nearing retirement ourselves, so it seems prudent to not take out parent loans, LOL.
@Calliene 's comment above is why I provided my daughter with a list of schools that we could afford without loans, and she researched and picked from there. It appears to be quite a different list than most folks on here, concentrating on public universities that provide OOS tuition waivers and other merit scholarships to folks with fairly modest GPA/test scores. I don’t think any of them are the flagship state universities; the better opportunities in our situation seem to be in the regional ones.
It helps that she graduated in 2017 and is taking this year off to work (which will pay for the “personal expenses” portion of the college cost!), so we have complete info on GPA, class rank, and scores.
We ended up with 12 public/2 private school auditions. And after the scholarship/financial aid package came in for one of the privates, even though it was a large amount it looks doubtful that we could afford it anyway unless there was a pretty hefty talent scholarship.
I realize it is a completely different ballgame for straight-A students with 1400 SATs, but she is in the 3.5/1300 range. And we would have to re-think if we couldn’t afford anywhere without loans (although that’s when need-based financial aid would come into play).
I really think that performing arts graduates are likely to need every penny they make at their “day jobs” to pay their living expenses while they audition, and not worry about paying off loans. And my husband and I are OLD with only 5-6 years until retirement, so we don’t need to be paying off loans either, LOL! My 2 cents worth anyway.
Unfortunately 17 year old wannabe actors, musicians etc. will read this and say “This won’t happen to me.”
@TomSrOfBoston That’s what parents are for.
@catznpigz I would discourage anyone from leaving a school off for that reason. My son who is (instrumental performance major) is at a private university we could never come close to paying full price tag for. In fact, he only applied to two state schools out of 9 total, and several of the private universities ended up less than our state flagship. We were very honest about what we could afford and were sure to have a couple on the list that we could pay for without any scholarships or aid. Private universities often have a lot more money to share with their students than state schools. So I wouldn’t write them off because of ticket price.
@BassTheatreMom If you read through CC you will see that many parents are clueless on financial matters.
@TomSrOfBoston You make an excellent point, lol!
A performing artist should graduate without any debt he or she is obligated to pay. Now, if a parent is willing to fund the debt, that is another situation. But the idea of a fixed monthly debt besides rent is simply ill advised in a profession with such uneven paying gigs. Even those who are successful by any reasonable metric would struggle to handle loans of any significance.
At Chicago Unifieds this year, I had the opportunity to sit in the information session for Texas State and University of Michigan back to back. The same question came up in both rooms - what do you do to help students minimize debt at your university? Texas State guarantees in state tuition to all accepted students and committed to working with students to help ensure that they graduate with little to no debt. Michigan’s response was “well, college is expensive” and then the presenters talked about using their first soap opera gig or Broadway show to pay off loans while eating $1 pizza for a year. I get it - Michigan is Michigan and I know that they are a top school and most of our kids (mine included) would be thrilled to get accepted into their program. I think that the comments just struck me as a little cavalier. I guess if you are good enough to get into Michigan, you have a decent chance of landing that soap opera or Broadway gig right out of school, but there are no guarantees! Ok, mini rant over. Thanks for sharing this article!