I thought this article from Dramatics magazine was one of the best that I have seen in laying out the pitfalls of student loan debt for theatre majors:
https://www.schooltheatre.org/resources/news/shackledbydebt
A few quotes from the article:
"A former chair of the International Thespian Officers, Davenport completed a B.F.A. in acting in May of 2015 after four rigorous years inside the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. As a result, Davenport is $50,000 in debt from student loans, both private and federal. She thinks she should be making monthly payments of around $300, but right now, she said, she doesn’t have enough left over each month for even $100 payments."
“There’s just no way, at eighteen, that you can really understand how many working actors are there compared to how many total people are trying to act. How many people out of an audition actually get cast and how many people in the callback get cast. I think the stakes are much higher than kids realize.”
“It was really a difficult decision for me to make when I finally cut the cord. But I need to be able to pay my bills without crying to my parents every month saying I’m too short to pay for my rent because I’m waitressing and auditioning and can’t make ends meet. It was equally difficult making the decision to give it all up because I was thinking of all that money that my parents spent on me in the past as well, to support me. They believed in me, and I’m giving it up.
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