'Moana' star Auli'i Cravalho says she kept deferring her Columbia place so the acting 'train' didn't come to a 'halt'

• Auli'i Cravahlo told "Podcrushed" about deferring a Columbia University place in favor of her career.
• She said she was wary of halting her acting journey because she was the "breadwinner" for her family.
• Actors including Glen Powell and Anne Hathaway have also paused their education for their careers.

Auli'i Cravalho, the voice of Moana, said she decided to pause her education aspiration over fears her acting career would lose steam.

Cravalho began her acting career at 14, debuting as Disney's first Polynesian princess in 2016's "Moana." The film was nominated for two Oscars and grossed $643 million worldwide.

Since then, Cravalho has voice-acted in several TV shows and video games, starred in films including 2024's "Mean Girls," and appeared in multiple stage shows.

Still, Moana is her most popular role as she prepares to return the character in "Moana 2," which is out next week.

Appearing on the "Podcrushed" podcast to promote the movie, Cravalho spoke about being accepted to Columbia University in 2021 to study environmental science.

The actor told Scary Mommy last year she'd deferred her place because she was "so scared that the industry would just move on and forget about me."

"There is a sense of the train is moving and do I bring it to a halt because I know for a fact that I'm not able to focus on those two things at once," Cravalho said in this week's interview. "I know I would have to pause one or give less of myself to the other, which doesn't feel fair."

Cravalho told Scary Mommy and The Cut last year she now has to reapply to Columbia because she deferred her place too many times.

Many actors and musicians have paused or dropped out of college to pursue careers. Celebritieslike Glen Powell, Anne Hathaway, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Timothée Chalamet have been successful in doing so.

Powell is finishing his degree at the University of Texas this year after becoming one of Hollywood's brightest new stars.

Cravalho said she still wants to return to her degree and would be the first in her immediate family to go to college.

"I'm also the breadwinner for my family," she said. "I'm a smidge worried about taking a break and doing all four years. I've budgeted it all out. I'd make it, but it would be close. I look forward to doing that in the next decade when I feel more secure."

The number of people enrolling for undergraduate degrees fell from 18 million to 15.4 million between 2010 and 2021, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Although the center said enrollment rose last year for the first time since the pandemic, higher education appears to be losing its appeal for some young people.

In May, Deloitte published a survey of 14,468 Gen Z and 8,373 millennials across 44 countries about their attitudes toward the world and their financial conditions.

It found that a third of respondents had chosen to skip higher education, citing financial barriers as the prime reason.

In 2023, Business Insider, in collaboration with YouGov, surveyed more than 1,800 Americans across five generations, including more than 600 Gen Z respondents above the age of 18, and found that 46% of Gen Z respondents didn't think college was worth the cost.

That poses a challenge for colleges and universities.

Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School and co-lead of its "Managing the Future of Work" initiative, told BI last year: "They're going to have to work to demonstrate to potential students that graduates of their programs can enjoy success and a lifestyle that will support income level and support a household with a decent lifestyle."