Juilliard’s Graduate Acting Program Goes Tuition Free—Latest Art School To Charge $0

Topline

The Juilliard School’s graduate acting program will become tuition free, New York City’s elite drama conservatory announced Wednesday—the latest school to do away with expensive tuition for its performing arts programs.

People walk past the Irene Diamond Building at The Juilliard School on August 3, 2020, in New York … [+] City.

Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Key Facts

The impacted program is a four-year M.F.A. in acting, which currently serves about 35 students out of the school’s nearly 1,000 total enrollment.

The school said this was made possible by gifts from producer John Gore and others, as well as a matching program from Broadway theater producer Stephanie McClelland and her husband, Carter McClelland, totaling $15 million.

The change will go into effect for at least four years starting in fall 2024, but is set to continue in perpetuity.

Big Number

$53,300. That’s the annual tuition the school currently charges.

Key Background

The Juilliard School, based in Manhattan, was founded in 1905, and this M.F.A. program was created in 2012. The school said it has been the goal since the beginning to make it free. The Hollywood Reporter named Juilliard the best drama school in the world in 2023, counting Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Oscar Isaac, Robin Williams and Val Kilmer as alumni. This announcement brings the number of programs at the school that are free to eight, including the school’s artist diploma programs in jazz, music performance, opera studies, playwriting and string quartet studies, as well as its doctor of musical arts program and its historical performance program. The school’s president, Damian Woetzel, said in a statement this move is aimed at “attacking barriers of access to the highest level of artistic education in drama, dance, and music,” adding, “talent has always been greater than opportunity.” This news comes amid growing concerns about the high cost of college, including performing arts graduates’ ability to pay off student loans. A 2021 Wall Street Journal analysis of Education Department data found that graduates of Columbia University’s film program who took out federal student loans had a median debt of $181,000, but half of them were only making an annual income of $30,000 two years after graduating. At New York University, graduates from the school’s master’s degree in publishing program borrowed a median of $116,000, but had an annual median income of $42,000 two years after graduation.

Tangent

A number of other drama schools nationwide have made similar moves. In 2021, Yale University’s School of Drama made its graduate degree and certificate programs tuition free for all full-time students, following a massive donation from billionaire film and music mogul David Geffen. At the time, Yale University’s president, Peter Salovey, told the New York Times he hoped other colleges and universities in all disciplines would follow suit, saying, “What should be happening in higher education is an attempt to reduce the financial burden on individuals and families associated with undergraduate education and graduate and professional education.” Additionally, Brown University and the University of California at San Diego’s graduate drama schools are tuition free.