Posted on 08/08/2017 9:50:37 AM PDT by Theoria
Twelve years after finishing Harvards graduate theater program, Katierose Donohue still pays almost as much in student loans each month about $650 as for her share of the rent in Los Angeles. She recently stopped hosting her monthly sketch comedy show, Maam, because she didnt always break even on her $200 budget. Shes now working side jobs as a dog walker and a social media copywriter, after past gigs serving at Starbucks and handing out free cigarettes for Camel.
Shes never missed a loan payment, but theres no end in sight: She borrowed nearly $75,000 to attend the American Repertory Theater Institute, or A.R.T. Institute, at Harvard and still owes about $54,000.
I cant afford to make my craft, even though Im regularly booking work, Ms. Donohue said. One fellow alum said to me, Getting this degree basically guaranteed that I wasnt able to pursue it as a career because I immediately had to get a job to pay for the education I received.
Most young actors dont face graduate school debt like this yet it is common for those who attend the A.R.T. Institute. Despite being at the worlds wealthiest university, institute students receive modest financial aid and leave with a median of $78,000 in debt in exchange for a master of liberal arts degree from the Harvard Extension School. In contrast, the loan debt average for master of fine arts students at Yale School of Drama tends to be around $14,000, a financial-aid officer said. At Juilliard, the average student loan debt for the four-year undergraduate drama program is $27,000.
The steep repayment burdens have been a straitjacket on students and their career aspirations for years. But now they have become a major problem for Harvard and the A.R.T. Institute, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I can only laugh so hard at her debt as my debt-free IT degree did me jack against the Zero and another tidal wave of outsourcing.
Young men consumed with an ambition for musical theatre are usually homosexuals. I knew one in college; his ambition was to be steward on a cruise boat. He died a long time ago, probably from AIDS. Maybe the same thing happened to your friend.
I have known a couple of bankers who went to Harvard. One was very conservative. The other on the liberal side, but not an extremist (he’s a partner in a small mortgage banking business serving the private sector). Both good guys; both several decades past their Harvard graduations.
“Most young actors dont face graduate school debt like this yet it is common for those who attend the A.R.T. Institute. Despite being at the worlds wealthiest university, institute students receive modest financial aid and leave with a median of $78,000 in debt in exchange for a master of liberal arts degree from the Harvard Extension School.”
She hasn't done much with her degree. Here she is in the video short He's Still Voting For Trump. Not funny. #FakeComedy.
I am sure it made good business sense up until they had to go on a 3-year hiatus. It is not like graduate theater students are going to refill the corporate coffers like their b-school or law grads.
She clearly has marketable skillz.
Most sane, or even nearly sane, men with any wherewithal know this and stay away from her. Also, if she is a feminist, she probably doesn't want to be around men.
She is clearly qualified to be a CNN Talking Head spouting Fake News 24/7.
She seems to be a natural, and looks better than most.
She HAD to have the Michael Kors purse, even though the Walmart purse cost 1/20 as much, and would benefit her in the same exact way... and YOU should pay for the difference, so that she can have a better self-image with the pricier label.
Are we supposed to feel sorry for this moron?
Sweetie, that degree and two bits won’t even buy you a cup of coffee.
My favorite is the Occupy guy complaining about lack of job prospects - after all, he had a Masters in Puppetry.
How could ANY school, in good conscience, even offer that discipline?
Money. That's all.
As for the value of a theater degree, there are some famous actors who taken this route: e.g. Robin Williams - Juilliard, Meryl Streep - Yale.
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