@bfamtdad, we were referring to the pay for casting agency assistants. This isn’t the same as theatre work.
However, not to be a downer, but I’d say the realistic pay for a recent MT grad is going to be lower than a casting agency assistant–under $30K, often with no benefits. And that’s if you’re really fortunate. It’s a very very tough business. I mean, even if you were the exceptional person who got cast on graduation or the first year, it’s really unusual to have back-to-back runs (even for highly successful B’way veterans), so there will be large gaps in which you are unemployed. And above all: I think it’s awesome to land a professional contract of any sort your first year out.
Here’s a general equity chart: http://www.actorsequity.org/agreements/agreement_info.asp?inc=031
That gives you a very rough idea of salary. Remember again there are no benefits and it is rare to have back-to-back runs. It’s also rare to land equity roles your first year on graduation.There are non-equity roles too, both in equity theatres and non-equity theatres
So the short answer is the vast majority of new grads have to expect to work in a flexible survival job. A handful may be fortunate to be able to live on their MT work alone upon graduation, but even highly successful grads who can live off their arts choose to diversify in order to earn their livings, eg sing/play an instrument at nightclubs, write songs or comedy, etc etc. Some may continue to build their career by such diversification.
As far as loans, I don’t know. I mean Stafford loans are capped at about $30K total. The ‘good’ news is that they now have income-driven repayment plans, so at least there’s that…