Current and future students to the Yale School of Drama will no longer have to pay tuition: producer and entertainment executive David Geffen has gifted the school $150 million, earmarked for tuition. The school will also be renamed the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University.
“There are potential applicants who think that they could never afford graduate theater training at an Ivy League school,” said the school’s dean James Bundy at a press briefing. “We believe the power of the simple message tuition free is going to counteract that impression, and that more prospective students will be able to imagine themselves at the David Geffen School of Drama.”
The School of Drama is a graduate program and offers degrees in acting, design, directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, technical design and production, and theater management. It enrolls about 200 students, who also receive work experience at the connected Yale Repertory Theater. The school’s alumni include Meryl Streep, Frances McDormand, Angela Bassett, Paul Giamatti, and Lupita Nyong’o.
‘The Devil Wears Prada’ Caused Meryl Streep to Quit Method Acting Bundy also said that “about half” of the current student body at the school are BIPOC, and the school will continue to focus on recruiting students from diverse backgrounds.
Yale President Peter Salovey said that making the school tuition free will help students get a leg up in an industry that can be low-paying and especially tough for artists starting their career saddled with student debt. “This allows students of the theater, when they graduate, to begin careers without some of the financial burden they might otherwise have, enabling them to take risks and to pursue their dreams,” he said.
Yale will also continue to offer financial aid for students towards living expenses.
“Our living expenses will be based on need-based aid,” said the school’s associate dean Chantal Rodriguez. “So students will still submit financial aid applications. And if they have demonstrated financial need, then they will be eligible for support for living expenses. And we also have a pretty robust work study program. And so with tuition being covered by David Geffen’s gift, then that means all work study earnings will go towards offsetting the cost of living expenses as well.”
The Geffen School of Drama will eliminate tuition for all degree and certificate students, beginning the fall semester. Yale is not expected to increase the number of students it admits into the drama school. Geffen is not an alumni of the school, though he did teach a course at Yale in the ’70s.
“Yale is well known for having one of the most respected drama programs in the country,” said Geffen in a statement. "So, when they approached me with this opportunity, I knew Yale was the right place to begin to change the way we think about funding arts education. Yale already provides some of the best professional training available to actors, writers, directors, designers, and theater managers from diverse backgrounds. Removing the tuition barrier will allow an even greater diversity of talented people to develop and hone their skills in front of, on, and behind Yale’s stages. I hope this gift will inspire others to support similar efforts to increase accessibility and affordability for arts education at colleges and universities across the country.”