Film/Video and Photographic Arts at Tufts University

Tufts film and photography graduates earn $56,418 in their first year—more than double what peers at other Massachusetts programs make and well above even the top reported program in the state. While the estimated $24,250 debt figure comes from similar programs at comparable institutions rather than Tufts' actual graduates, it suggests a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.43, meaning graduates could theoretically pay off their loans in about five months of gross earnings.

The caveat here is that film and photographic arts programs typically produce modest outcomes. Nationally, the median first-year salary is just $25,173, and most graduates face roughly as much debt as these Tufts grads while earning less than half as much. What's driving Tufts' exceptional performance—whether it's the program itself, the selective student body (10% admission rate, 1513 SAT), or simply better-connected graduates leveraging the university's network into higher-paying opportunities—is impossible to disentangle from the data alone.

For anxious parents, the numbers work: first-year earnings that dwarf the field combined with manageable estimated debt create a financial foundation that most film school graduates never see. Whether that advantage persists beyond year one or proves specific to this cohort is unknown, but as film programs go, this one appears to be a notable outlier.