How much debt is too much debt for MTs?

MomOfAPrincess
Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:00:11 +0000

As someone who still holds almost $100k in student loans (I went back for an advanced degree later in life), I can say I have no regrets for the knowledge I bought. But I also have received a return on that investment by being paid more because of the school I attended and that is not the case in every field.

If my daughter wanted to pursue a profession with a stable salary ceiling regardless of which school she graduated from I might encourage her to attend a state school where cost was nil or low. On the other hand because I do value quality education I could be easily persuaded to pay the costs just for her own personal benefit. My D’s friend recently faced this choice. She could easily get into an Ivy yet knows she wants to be a web designer. It made more sense to go to a college where she could acquire the skills she needs and graduate debt free.

I’ve considered this cost-benefit approach with the BFA and frankly I don’t have an answer. If the BFA program afforded strong academics along with the performing art skills I might be more persuaded. Unfortunately I found too few of those. Because of the high rate of unemployment in performance this really makes it a very hard choice. This path has always reminded me of athletics and they should give these BFA students large scholarships.