Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft at Western Connecticut State University

Western Connecticut State's theatre program achieves something rare: it substantially outperforms both state and national benchmarks for theatre graduates. At $24,150 in first-year earnings, graduates earn 34% more than the Connecticut median for this program and 17% more than the national median. Among Connecticut's 17 theatre programs, this ranks in the 80th percentile—notably ahead of UConn's theatre graduates who start at just $18,002.

The debt load of $27,000 is essentially on par with state and national norms, creating a relatively favorable debt-to-earnings ratio of 1.12 for a theatre degree. While earnings growth is modest at 3% over four years, theatre is notoriously a field where traditional salary progression doesn't tell the whole story—many graduates supplement day jobs with performance work or transition into adjacent creative fields.

For families accepting that theatre is rarely a high-earning path, Western Connecticut presents better financial outcomes than most alternatives. Your child would graduate with manageable debt and earnings that, while modest in absolute terms, place them ahead of three-quarters of Connecticut theatre graduates. If they're committed to this field, few programs offer better numbers.