For years, creators learned the business the hard way: trial, error, and a few bad brand deals. Now colleges on both sides of the Atlantic are turning content creation into coursework, and the debate over whether that’s worth the tuition is heating up.

According to Syracuse University News‘s John Boccacino, Syracuse now offers a creator economy minor that the school describes as the first academic pathway into the industry. It’s built to teach students how to succeed as both a creator and an entrepreneur running a digital content business.

What’s in the Syracuse minor

The minor pulls together courses from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, which co-lead the university’s Center for the Creator Economy. Two of the three required classes are taught by advertising professor Faren Karimkhan and entrepreneurship professor John Torrens.

Karimkhan’s Introduction to the Creator Economy covers platforms, personal branding, audience building, brand partnerships, monetization and ethics. The big assignment is a semester-long group project in which students build and launch their own creator brand on a platform of their choice.

“It’s an industry that has created entirely new career opportunities, yet there are still many misconceptions about what it takes to succeed,” Karimkhan told the school.

Torrens’ Business Toolkit for Creators is the nuts-and-bolts side: setting up a business, accounting and invoicing, reading contracts, and handling brand deals and user-generated content agreements. His view is simple.

“If you’re a creator, you’re an entrepreneur.”

He also warned that many student creators try to “cast such a wide net” and that anyone who wants to monetize has to pick a target audience, just like a startup would. Electives include a Name, Image and Likeness class and a music industry marketing course, and the school’s Center for the Creator Economy is hosting ‘CUSE Creator Con on Oct. 22-23.

Meanwhile in the UK: a $39,000 degree

Across the pond, the question has gotten more personal. According to The Indian Express‘s Trends Desk, Nottingham Trent University graduate Destiny McGowan is defending the roughly $39,000 (£30,000) she spent earning an honours degree in content creation.

McGowan told the BBC that “the incredible people I’ve met through panels that the university hosted would take someone five to 10 years to get to that place.” She also credited the program with giving her access to equipment, technology and industry contacts, and she now earns money as a creator.

The outlet notes that a growing number of UK universities now offer similar programs. The University of Brighton pitches its course as teaching “content that cuts through the noise,” and Nottingham Trent course leader Jacky Gurr argues content creation is a professional skill that businesses, agencies and freelancers increasingly need.

Not everyone is sold

Lifestyle creator Aiesha Beasley, 36, said she would have signed up for a course like this if one had existed when she started posting on Tumblr in the early 2010s. Creator Knightenator was more skeptical: “Honestly, from my experience, I don’t think companies would care too much if you had a content creator degree.”

That split captures the real tension. Most people who make a living online never took a class on it, and audiences don’t check diplomas. But the skills these programs are teaching, like contracts, invoicing, pricing and audience focus, are exactly the ones many creators say they wish they had learned earlier.

The takeaway

The creator economy is getting the academic treatment, from a business-focused minor at Syracuse to full degrees in the UK. A diploma won’t build a fanbase for you, and nobody subscribes to a page because of a transcript. But for creators on any platform, OnlyFans included, the lesson from these classrooms is free: treat your page like a business, know your audience, and read every contract before you sign it.

Image: Hall of Languages at Syracuse University, as seen from Newhouse Steps, photo by Kiran891, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).