Parent’s Refusal to Fund a ‘music Industry’ Degree Sparks Debate on Reddit About College Costs, Career Security, and Whether Passion Majors Can Pay Off

NEW YORK, NY — A parent’s decision to refuse tuition support for a daughter’s possible “music industry” or entertainment business degree has triggered a familiar college-money debate online: how much should families factor earning power into a teenager’s major?

The discussion started on Reddit’s r/MiddleClassFinance, where the parent said their 16-year-old daughter is interested in a field tied to music and entertainment. The parent made clear they are not trying to block her from studying what she wants, but they will not pay for a degree they believe could lead to weak job prospects and heavy debt.

The post quickly turned into a broader conversation about the risks of paying tens of thousands of dollars for college without a clear career plan.

Why the parent drew a line at tuition

In the post, the parent said their position is simple: their daughter can choose any major she wants because “it’s her life.” What they will not do is finance a degree they see as lacking a “solid career path and decent earning potential.”

The parent argued that college is too expensive to approach without thinking about payoff. They said they would be willing to support majors they see as more practical, including engineering, finance, accounting, nursing and management information systems.

The reasoning was not framed as a rejection of the daughter’s interests. Instead, the parent said they want her to build a strong financial base first, earn good money and then pursue passions later from a more stable position.

Commenters split between caution and criticism

Many commenters sympathized with the concern about debt and employability. One user who said they have an art degree wrote that they are still paying off student loans and wished their parents had been more direct about how difficult it can be to land a well-paying job after school.

Others pushed back on the idea that any major can be neatly sorted into “safe” and “unsafe” categories. They pointed out that accounting, programming and design jobs can be shifted overseas, and that the labor market can look very different by the time a student actually graduates.

One commenter noted that it can be difficult to predict which jobs will still offer strong salaries even a decade from now. That uncertainty, they said, is part of what makes college planning so tricky for families making high-stakes financial decisions.

A simple compromise: study something flexible

One of the most popular suggestions was a compromise that keeps music in the picture without making it the only plan. A commenter advised the parent to tell the daughter that accountants can work in the music business too.

That idea came up repeatedly in different forms. Several people suggested choosing a broadly transferable major and pairing it with a minor, concentration or extracurricular focus in music or entertainment.

The logic behind that approach is practical: entertainment companies still need accountants, marketers, lawyers, managers and other professionals. A student can stay close to the industry they love while keeping more options open after graduation.

Some professionals say music degrees can still lead to strong pay

Not everyone in the discussion treated music-related degrees as a financial dead end. One person said they earned two music degrees and now make about $114,000 a year in their early 30s.

Another commenter said they hold a Master of Fine Arts in theater management and now earn $165,000. Those examples were used to argue that outcomes depend less on the label of the degree and more on how a person turns training into a concrete career.

Even those working successfully in creative fields stressed the importance of planning. To them, “music industry” is too vague to be a career path on its own. The real question is whether a student is aiming for artist management, production, sound, marketing, entertainment law or another specific job.

What the debate says about college as a financial bet

At the center of the conversation is a larger question many families face: whether a degree should be treated mainly as a passion project, a financial investment, or some mix of both.

Parents often have to make that call while also thinking about tuition, loans and their own long-term money goals. The Reddit thread reflected how hard it can be to weigh a teenager’s interests against the reality that college can cost five or six figures.

The strongest takeaway from the discussion was not that every creative major is a bad idea. It was that students and parents may get farther by focusing on specific careers and realistic education paths rather than debating whether an entire field is “worthless.”

For this family, the real question is the career plan

The parent’s concern was never just about music. It was about whether the money for college should go toward a degree that clearly supports employment after graduation.

That concern resonated with people who have seen student debt shape their own lives, but it also met resistance from commenters who believe future paychecks are too unpredictable to make strict assumptions about one major.

For now, the debate leaves the family at a crossroads: a daughter with interests in music and entertainment, and a parent who wants those interests paired with a path that looks financially sustainable.

As the Reddit discussion showed, plenty of people think the smartest answer may be neither “yes” nor “no,” but a plan that connects creativity with a marketable skill set.

Chicago's music scene, one story at a time — Chicago Music Guide.