USC Dance (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Dance
- Private nonprofit university
- Los Angeles, CA
- About 18 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
USC dance graduates earn about what dance graduates earn nationally, $25,653 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $15,875 in federal loans, less than at 97% of dance programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying dance 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 dance bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Debt and first-year pay at every California dance 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 $168 a month, or 7.9% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the Los Angeles area are about 14% above the national average, so a $25,653 salary here buys what about $22,589 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 dance, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Choreographers
$75,000Median pay in California. 410 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 600 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
About USC
Dance ranks 39th of 43 bachelor's programs at USC by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($137,284), Software and Media Applications ($103,071), and Real Estate ($98,763).
Other dance bachelor's programs near Los Angeles
Common questions
The median graduate earns $25,653 one year after graduating. The median across dance bachelor's programs in California is $24,087.
The median federal loan balance is $15,875, which ranks the lowest of 7 dance bachelor's programs in California. That works out to about $168 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 62% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 116%.
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 dance 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