North Central College Theatre (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft
- Private nonprofit college
- Naperville, IL
- About 16 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
North Central College theatre graduates earn about what theatre graduates earn nationally, $20,416 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $21,000 in federal loans, less than at 76% of theatre programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying theatre degrees in Illinois.
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, North Central College graduates earn about the national figure and about the same as 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 67% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $223 a month, or 13.1% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
86% of graduates (18 of 21) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Chicago area are about 4% above the national average, so a $20,416 salary here buys what about $19,708 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 North Central College
Theatre ranks 19th of 19 bachelor's programs at North Central College by first-year earnings. The top three are Management Science ($85,168), Accounting ($58,717), and Human Resources ($53,587).
Other theatre bachelor's programs near Naperville
Common questions
The median graduate earns $20,416 one year after graduating and $34,084 five years after. The median across theatre bachelor's programs in Illinois is $20,709.
The median federal loan balance is $21,000, which ranks 3rd lowest of 14 theatre bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $223 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 103% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 115%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Illinois programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 86% (18 of 21) 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