Wayne State Theatre (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft
- Public university
- Detroit, MI
- About 21 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Wayne State theatre graduates earn about what theatre graduates earn nationally, $18,750 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $24,847 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,000. One other Michigan program reports higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Michigan and national columns are the medians across all theatre bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Wayne State graduates earn less than the national figure and about the same as the Michigan median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Michigan theatre program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Michigan 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 77% 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 slightly more in their first year than other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $26,705 against $16,250.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $263 a month, or 16.8% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
67% of graduates (34 of 51) were working in Michigan one year after graduating. Prices in the Detroit area are about the same as the national average.
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
$65,720Median pay in Michigan. 2,310 people work in this job in Michigan. 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
$76,910Median pay nationwide. 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 Wayne State
Theatre ranks 49th of 49 bachelor's programs at Wayne State by first-year earnings. The top three are Electrical Engineering Technology ($82,524), Electrical Engineering ($78,738), and Industrial Engineering ($77,815).
Other theatre bachelor's programs near Detroit
Common questions
The median graduate earns $18,750 one year after graduating and $33,158 five years after. The median across theatre bachelor's programs in Michigan is $17,770.
The median federal loan balance is $24,847, which ranks 3rd lowest of 6 theatre bachelor's programs in Michigan. That works out to about $263 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 133% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 115%. Compare the cost with other Michigan programs before deciding.
Most do. 67% (34 of 51) were working in Michigan 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 Michigan 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