Which New York theatre program has the lowest debt?

City Tech reports the lowest median federal debt, $6,000, with first-year pay of $14,799.

How much do theatre graduates earn in New York?

The median across 31 New York theatre bachelor's programs is $18,740 in the first year after graduating and $33,461 five years after.

How many theatre bachelor's programs are in New York?

31 New York programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 27 of them also report federal debt.

Theatre (Bachelor's) Programs in New York, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

31 programs report first-year pay
27 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median New York theatre bachelor's program pays its graduates $18,740 in their first year, $2,075 less than the national median. Manhattan School of Music reports the highest first-year pay ($29,400), and City Tech the lowest median debt ($6,000).

Median first-year pay$18,740National $20,815

Median pay after 5 years$33,461National $34,512

Median federal debt$26,000National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings132%National 115%

All 31 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Manhattan School of MusicNew York · private nonprofit	$29,400	Not reported	$27,000	92%
2	University at BuffaloBuffalo · public	$25,810	$37,364	$26,637	103%
3	Hunter CollegeNew York · public	$25,059	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
4	Nazareth UniversityRochester · private nonprofit	$23,511	$24,533	$27,000	115%
5	SUNY College at PotsdamPotsdam · public	$22,873	$39,609	$26,208	115%
6	SUNY New PaltzNew Paltz · public	$21,800	$23,543	$23,453	108%
7	Syracuse UniversitySyracuse · private nonprofit	$20,988	$41,457	$27,000	129%
8	NYUNew York · private nonprofit	$20,916	$31,599	$21,762	104%
9	Brooklyn CollegeBrooklyn · public	$20,645	$39,051	Not reported	Not reported
10	SUNY FredoniaFredonia · public	$20,453	$35,448	$27,000	132%
11	SUNY OswegoOswego · public	$19,673	Not reported	$27,000	137%
12	Buffalo StateBuffalo · public	$19,608	$30,530	$21,810	111%
13	Marymount Manhattan CollegeNew York · private nonprofit	$19,562	$32,284	$27,000	138%
14	Vassar CollegePoughkeepsie · private nonprofit	$19,339	$38,959	$20,000	103%
15	Binghamton UniversityVestal · public	$18,920	Not reported	$20,500	108%
16	SUNY OneontaOneonta · public	$18,740	Not reported	$23,144	124%
17	Long Island UniversityBrookville · private nonprofit	$18,671	Not reported	$26,000	139%
18	Ithaca CollegeIthaca · private nonprofit	$18,243	$38,424	$26,000	143%
19	SUNY Purchase CollegePurchase · public	$18,090	$42,645	$26,000	144%
20	Wagner CollegeStaten Island · private nonprofit	$17,478	$28,580	$27,000	154%
21	American Musical and Dramatic AcademyNew York · private nonprofit	$17,410	$22,591	$27,000	155%
22	The New SchoolNew York · private nonprofit	$17,113	$24,596	$25,000	146%
23	Molloy UniversityRockville Centre · private nonprofit	$17,050	Not reported	$27,000	158%
24	Pace UniversityNew York · private nonprofit	$16,659	$27,786	$27,000	162%
25	Skidmore CollegeSaratoga Springs · private nonprofit	$16,417	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
26	Hofstra UniversityHempstead · private nonprofit	$15,474	$28,590	$26,000	168%
27	City College of New YorkNew York · public	$15,098	$25,104	$17,739	117%
28	Adelphi UniversityGarden City · private nonprofit	$14,867	$30,228	$24,125	162%
29	City TechBrooklyn · public	$14,799	$33,461	$6,000	41%
30	Fordham UniversityBronx · private nonprofit	$14,133	$43,045	$27,000	191%
31	Queens CollegeQueens · public	$11,604	$47,566	Not reported	Not reported

Hunter College, Brooklyn College, Skidmore College, and Queens College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every New York theatre program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the New York medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 27 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

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

$107,550

Median pay in New York. 27,990 people work in this job in New York. 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.

Bottom 10%: $61,960Top 10%: $222,580

Writers and Authors

$76,910

Median pay nationwide. 7,480 people work in this job in New York. 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.

Common questions

Manhattan School of Music in New York reports the highest median first-year pay, $29,400. Its median federal debt is $27,000.

Theatre (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked257 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 New York rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the theatre bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024