Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft at Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus

The tiny sample size here (under 30 graduates) makes these numbers unreliable, but what they suggest isn't encouraging. That first-year figure of $16,666 puts graduates well below both the national median ($20,698) and New Jersey's state median ($18,474) for theater programs—landing in just the 12th percentile nationally. While earnings nearly double by year four, reaching $31,424, that trajectory still leaves graduates behind peers at Rutgers campuses, where median earnings hit nearly $25,000 right out of the gate.

The debt load of $25,139 is typical for theater programs, but paired with such low initial earnings, it creates a 1.51 debt-to-income ratio that means graduates start owing 1.5 times their annual salary. That's a challenging starting position even for a field known for financial volatility. The 96% admission rate suggests this is an access-oriented institution, which may partly explain the earnings gap—but that doesn't make the bills easier to pay.

If your child is serious about theater, look hard at the Rutgers system. Those campuses deliver significantly better earnings outcomes for similar debt levels. With such a small cohort reporting here, these numbers could be skewed by just a handful of individual circumstances—making this less a definitive verdict than a warning to investigate thoroughly before committing.