Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft

Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.

50

Schools Ranked

$22,844

Avg. Earnings

3.2 yrs

Best Payback

10,960

Graduates

How we calculate value: Payback = (4 years of net price) / (major earnings - $35k baseline). A 2-year payback means you recoup your investment in 2 years through higher earnings vs. not attending college.

#	School	Net Price/yr	Major Earnings	Payback
1	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	$11,794	$49,683	3.2 yrs
2	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$45,128	6.4 yrs
3	CUNY New York City College of Technology Brooklyn, NY · Public	$8,412	$38,829	8.8 yrs
4	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	$15,248	$38,289	18.5 yrs
5	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$36,437	39 yrs
6	Brandeis University Waltham, MA · Private	$24,183	$17,162	N/A
7	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$20,687	N/A
8	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$31,839	N/A
9	Drake University Des Moines, IA · Private	$26,088	$20,140	N/A
10	Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH · Public	$23,513	$21,964	N/A
11	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus Cincinnati, OH · Public	$20,867	$23,456	N/A
12	Chapman University Orange, CA · Private	$38,525	$24,035	N/A
13	Western Connecticut State University Danbury, CT · Public	$16,376	$21,964	N/A
14	Pepperdine University Malibu, CA · Private	$32,267	$18,401	N/A
15	Rhode Island College Providence, RI · Public	$12,509	$25,967	N/A
16	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$18,087	N/A
17	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$20,869	N/A
18	Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA · Private	$37,292	$28,598	N/A
19	University of North Carolina School of the Arts Winston Salem, NC · Public	$13,480	$32,213	N/A
20	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$24,035	N/A
21	University of Central Missouri Warrensburg, MO · Public	$14,267	$22,192	N/A
22	Saint Edward's University Austin, TX · Private	$24,710	$23,649	N/A
23	Binghamton University Vestal, NY · Public	$21,423	$21,052	N/A
24	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus Denver, CO · Public	$15,406	$32,925	N/A
25	California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA · Public	$12,602	$19,227	N/A
26	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman, OK · Public	$21,725	$22,892	N/A
27	West Texas A & M University Canyon, TX · Public	$14,196	$29,685	N/A
28	Radford University Radford, VA · Public	$16,716	$22,192	N/A
29	North Central College Naperville, IL · Private	$21,783	$25,194	N/A
30	Ithaca College Ithaca, NY · Private	$31,694	$28,133	N/A
31	Fordham University Bronx, NY · Private	$31,221	$25,967	N/A
32	University of Northern Colorado Greeley, CO · Public	$14,111	$29,202	N/A
33	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$27,947	N/A
34	Baylor University Waco, TX · Private	$31,907	$20,596	N/A
35	Portland State University Portland, OR · Public	$12,964	$24,808	N/A
36	University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY · Public	$20,841	$16,015	N/A
37	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$22,485	N/A
38	George Mason University Fairfax, VA · Public	$19,066	$21,964	N/A
39	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH · Public	$20,896	$25,194	N/A
40	Nebraska Wesleyan University Lincoln, NE · Private	$25,748	$23,113	N/A
41	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA · Public	$19,216	$21,234	N/A
42	College of Charleston Charleston, SC · Public	$20,142	$21,781	N/A
43	Appalachian State University Boone, NC · Public	$13,769	$18,771	N/A
44	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Berks Reading, PA · Public	$22,967	$26,187	N/A
45	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$26,187	N/A
46	San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA · Public	$16,065	$25,194	N/A
47	University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE · Public	$15,394	$27,947	N/A
48	Emerson College Boston, MA · Private	$37,774	$26,799	N/A
49	Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI · Public	$20,840	$22,424	N/A
50	University of Montevallo Montevallo, AL · Public	$19,443	$20,140	N/A

Top Earners in Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

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Payback uses earnings by major from the College Scorecard's field-of-study file, last updated June 2026, against net price from the June 2026 release. Scorecard publishes the two separately, so they are different vintages.