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June 30, 2021

Yale drama school eliminates tuition after $150M gift from entertainment mogul David Geffen

Photo| Contributed David Geffen
By Natalie Missakian

Yale University now has the country’s first tuition-free drama school following a record $150 million gift from entertainment industry magnate David Geffen, the billionaire co-founder of DreamWorks film studio and owner of multiple record labels.

Yale University announced the landmark gift Wednesday morning, calling it the largest on record in the history of American theater. 

Starting this fall, the newly renamed David Geffen School of Drama at Yale will eliminate tuition for all of its roughly 200 degree and certificate students, the university said. Students had been charged $32,800 a year. 

“David Geffen’s gift will be transformative for us at the school and for the American theater at large,” said James Bundy, dean of the drama school. “Full tuition support of our training will help us attract talent from the broadest possible spectrum of applicants, and it sends a clear message that Yale is a place where a stimulating mix of gifted students can devote their energies first and foremost to artistry.”

The well-known philanthropist, who has a net worth of $10.2 billion according to Forbes, has a relationship with Yale dating back to the late 1970s, when he led a seminar on the music industry and arts management.

The founder of Asylum Records, Geffen Records and Geffen Pictures, as well as co-founder of DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, is known for helping advance the careers of legendary recording artists like John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Elton John and Nirvana and for producing films like “Beetlejuice” and “Risky Business.”  

Meanwhile, the drama school has turned out its own roster of entertainment heavyweights including actors Meryl Streep, Angela Bassett, Paul Giamatti and Lupita Nyong’o’. 

“Yale is well known for having one of the most respected drama programs in the country,” Geffen said 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 President Peter Salovey said the university has been exploring ways to remove barriers for students pursuing careers in fields that typically have a lower immediate financial return.

The drama school is the second at Yale to go tuition-free, following the Yale School of Music, which eliminated tuition in 2005. 

Salovey said Yale is pursuing additional fundraising for facilities upgrades and other projects to strengthen the drama school, with a long-term goal of replacing it with a new theater education and production facility.
 
Contact Natalie Missakian at news@newhavenbiz.com

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