Saint Mary's College of California Theatre (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft
- Private nonprofit college
- Moraga, CA
- About 21 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Saint Mary's College of California theatre graduates earn more than graduates of most theatre programs nationally, $38,160 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $27,304 in federal loans, more than at 96% of theatre programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying theatre degrees in California.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The California and national columns are the medians across all theatre bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Debt and first-year pay at every California theatre program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $289 a month, or 9.1% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the San Francisco area are about 16% above the national average, so a $38,160 salary here buys what about $33,007 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
$129,790Median pay in California. 34,110 people work in this job in California. 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
$86,480Median pay in California. 8,390 people work in this job in California. 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 Saint Mary's College of California
Theatre ranks 5th of 8 bachelor's programs at Saint Mary's College of California by first-year earnings. The top three are Accounting ($66,628), Liberal Arts and General Studies ($56,094), and Business ($46,958).
Other theatre bachelor's programs near Moraga
Common questions
The median graduate earns $38,160 one year after graduating. The median across theatre bachelor's programs in California is $20,538.
The median federal loan balance is $27,304, which ranks 22nd lowest of 23 theatre bachelor's programs in California. That works out to about $289 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 72% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 115%.
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 California 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