Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft at Western Kentucky University

Western Kentucky University's theatre program manages to outperform most competitors despite the field's inherent financial challenges. First-year earnings of $22,884 beat both the national median ($20,698) and Kentucky median ($20,937), placing graduates in the 67th percentile nationally and 60th percentile statewide. More impressively, the program keeps debt to $21,821—matching the Kentucky median and coming in $3,000 below the national typical burden. This creates a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.95, meaning graduates can theoretically pay off loans with one year's salary, which is unusually manageable for performing arts degrees.

The real story here is relative value. Theatre degrees rarely lead to high early earnings, but WKU's graduates actually earn more than those from flagship University of Kentucky while carrying identical debt loads. For a widely accessible institution (97% admission rate), this represents solid execution in preparing students for entry-level work in a competitive field. The moderate sample size (30-100 graduates) gives reasonable confidence in these numbers.

Parents should understand they're looking at barely above minimum wage earnings initially, but that's the theatre reality everywhere—not a WKU-specific problem. If your child is committed to this path, this program delivers comparable outcomes to more selective options without the debt trap many arts programs create.