MFAs certainly exist to "extract cash from the hopeful"; the linked article says as much: > On average, these MFA programs are sending a generation of aspiring

MFAs certainly exist to "extract cash from the hopeful"; the linked article says as much: > On average, these MFA programs are sending a generation of aspiring artists into debt for often zero financial return. Before MFAs, starving artists simply didn’t have any money. Now, starving artists have massive debt. But that's not true of the other gatekeepers? Publishers make money if books sell. Ditto agents. Blurb writers work for free (in general). If they don't curate quality, they certainly think they do.