The $100 million gift that is allowing the Yale School of Music to go tuition-free is making waves across the classical music industry, and has the potential eventually to elevate Yale to the ranks of America’s elite conservatories. Officials at schools like Juilliard and Curtis have long known the value (and necessity) of making music education as cheap as possible – most professional musicians will never make a great deal of money, and many are driven out of the profession altogether by the need for a steady paycheck. “Half the former art and music students surveyed by college lender Nellie Mae in 1998 had debts bigger than their salaries.”