Columbia College Chicago Theatre (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft
- Private nonprofit college
- Chicago, IL
- About 140 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Columbia College Chicago theatre graduates earn less than graduates of most theatre programs nationally, $17,929 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $26,977 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,000. Several Illinois programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all theatre bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Columbia College Chicago graduates earn about the national figure but about $1,350 less than the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois theatre program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 88% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $2,494 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $286 a month, or 19.1% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual. Separately, 126 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $61,177.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
65% of graduates (197 of 304) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Chicago area are about 4% above the national average, so a $17,929 salary here buys what about $17,307 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to theatre, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Producers and Directors
$81,080Median pay in Illinois. 3,170 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Writers and Authors
$68,220Median pay in Illinois. 2,640 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 11,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Columbia College Chicago
Theatre ranks 16th of 16 bachelor's programs at Columbia College Chicago by first-year earnings. The top three are Public Relations and Advertising ($39,794), Marketing ($36,386), and Business Administration ($34,798).
Other theatre bachelor's programs near Chicago
Common questions
The median graduate earns $17,929 one year after graduating and $33,746 five years after. The median across theatre bachelor's programs in Illinois is $20,709.
The median federal loan balance is $26,977, which ranks 11th lowest of 14 theatre bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $286 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 150% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 115%. Compare the cost with other Illinois programs before deciding.
Most do. 65% (197 of 304) were working in Illinois one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Illinois comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the theatre program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024