The Business of Selling Dreams

The point of a college degree is to gain essential skills and knowledge that support your career. In other words, it is to get a job in a field you’re interested in and make a good living. If our great American universities are going to be run like businesses, then the public needs to start thinking about them as investments. If I invest tens of thousands of dollars into an education, I want some sort of job-related return.

College has become a game of risk and reward. This is not to say that you shouldn’t follow your dreams or make bold choices. But, whatever you do, get your money’s worth. The hard fact is that some degrees offer better job prospects and higher earning potential than others, while some fields have lower success rates and make it more difficult to find high-paying employment—or even decently paying employment.

If our great American universities are going to be run like businesses, then the public needs to start thinking about them as investments. This brings me to my main point: What is the purpose of a musical-theatre degree? Each year, as recently reported by Inside Higher Ed, 1,500 students graduate from more than 150 musical-theatre programs across the country. However, there aren’t enough jobs in the field to support so many graduates each year—not by a long shot.

What’s more, many musical-theatre programs accept more students than even they can accommodate onstage. Combine this with educators who sometimes lack real Broadway experience, and one has a recipe for programs that won’t help a graduate get a job.

Flashy theatre programs that lure in idealistic students are often just cash grabs by billion-dollar corporations masquerading as universities. Just last year, UNC Asheville decided to phase out its drama department as part of university-wide academic cuts. It isn’t difficult to see why a college would make that choice. With little chance of success and no back-up plan, many musical-theatre graduates find themselves in debt, jobless, and out of luck. They would have been better off skipping the degree and cost and going directly to work. Or, in the case of musical theatre specifically, moving to New York, starting small, gaining experience, and working their way to bigger roles.

Why are universities across the country hosting programs for a degree with such a low probability of success? The answer, like always, is money. Flashy theatre programs that lure in idealistic students are often just cash grabs by billion-dollar corporations masquerading as universities.

Don’t get me wrong: The art of performance is a noble pursuit and widely appreciated. However, the more musical-theatre programs exist, the more degrees end up unused. To live the dream on Broadway or to become a successful performer, you have to be exceptionally talented. It’s a rare privilege to have a job that inspires so much passion.

Musical-theatre programs should exist only in proportion to the actual demand for performers in the industry. This would keep programs realistically competitive, which would weed out students who will most likely not make it on Broadway. Though disappointing, such a change would benefit students by allowing them to focus on other academic pursuits and would benefit society by increasing the number of people who can contribute in meaningful ways.

Universities should be encouraging students towards programs with high job outlooks, such as nursing, engineering, and business. Rather than pushing young adults toward the performing arts (or even less valuable fields such as gender studies), colleges should focus on programs that lead to actual work.

Reagan Allen is the state reporter for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.