Thursday 4 February 2016

Arts and Entertainment - Should I Study and Get a Degree In That?

The other day I was talking to a lady who had her PhD in dance. She was able to teach dance all over the world, and she became a professor. The reality is that many people who get degrees in dance don't end up making all that much money, and if they dance professionally it's hard to keep up as they get older, the younger generation just has too much energy and agility to compete with, and your knees only hold out for so long. Not just for dance, you can ask any professional athlete. Speaking of which very few ever make the grade, but let's talk about that for a second shall we?

You see if you get a degree in fine arts from college or from a major university, it isn't going to be cheap, and even with all that debt that you've racked up in tuition and student loans, the chances of paying it off are slim to none in many cases. Yes, it's true those student loans will be guaranteed by the US taxpayer perhaps, but they're still going to want their money back, and will come after you for it sooner or later. Not long ago someone told me that they wanted to get a degree in art and entertainment. They weren't sure what they wanted to do yet, they were still deciding. That's interesting isn't it?

There was a rather troubling article in the Wall Street Journal on February 18, 2013 titled; "A Degree Drawn in Red Ink - Graduates of Arts - Focused Schools Are Shown to Rack Up the Most Student Debt," by Ruth Simon and Rob Barry.

Well, it appears from this article that getting a degree in art or entertainment costs more than let's say getting an MBA or a law degree. That seems like a rather risky venture, and it's not that I don't believe that you should do what you love in life and something you have passion for, I do believe that to be true. But if you think you're going to pay off those expensive loans, think again, and consider your options more carefully. It's your choice in the end, but if you were worried about being broke while going to school, you may as well get used to it if you go for one of those high end art schools.