The real objection seems to be that the high costs of an M.F.A. are especially unreasonable given that artists have little hope of dependable returns on investment. Assuming that artists don't consider the financial consequences of their education is becoming less and less legitimate. Saltz highlighted artist Coco Fusco's essay, which argues that, considering the financial risks of going to art school, now is a more pertinent time than ever to ask whether the M.F.A. experience is worth the money. Elsewhere on the Internet, M.F.A.s have already been called Ponzi schemes.

The real mystery—amid all this criticism—is that the number of M.F.A. graduates only seems to be rising. Consider this chart from the group BFAMFAPhD—a collective of artists studying the numbers of being a working artist—which shows that degree recipients of both BFAs and MFAs have been rising. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, data dating back to 1970 shows that the number of Master's degrees granted in the visual and performing arts has been rising every year in the last decade.

Master's Degrees Earned in Visual and Performing Arts

It's clear that the cost is not (yet) driving young artists away from getting educated at M.F.A. programs. It might be that no one studies art for the financial returns: Even as auction houses break records—Peter Lik's photograph "Phantom" just went for $6.5 million—resale royalties for artists in America have yet to be legislated. Then there's another common saying: that artists don't need to get rich because they already are rich. Looking at Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Planet Money reported that artists do tend to have wealthier parents.

One piece of the puzzle might be that for those who choose this career path, the act of becoming an artist is an achievement itself that's worth a lot. A group of sociologists took a look at what it means to be an artist, and wrote this in the conclusion of their study: "Seeing oneself as a professional artist is an achievement that compares to entering other elite status groups." With artists being only 1.35 percent of the U.S. workforce, it's a small group indeed.

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