The Juilliard School Ushers in Its First Class of Tuition-Free Drama Students

With the 2024-25 school year, The Juilliard School has welcomed its first-ever tuition-free class of MFA acting students. Juilliard trustee and theater producer Stephanie McClelland and her husband, Carter McClelland, helped fund scholarships for the ambitious program through a matching challenge, which was met by John Gore Organization chairman and CEO John Gore. The new class of freshmen, dubbed the John Gore/Broadway.com Fellows, will have all four years of schooling paid for. 

"This is a really extraordinary kind of situation we're in here with the first tuition-free drama MFA class," said Juilliard President Damian Woetzel. "It's a landmark moment," he continued. "Art is a public good and art education should be a right." 

Learn more about the program and peek inside Juilliard classrooms in the video below.