Civil Engineering at Baker College

Michigan's civil engineering programs cluster tightly around $70,000 in first-year earnings, and Baker College appears to land squarely in that range. Drawing from outcomes at six similar programs across the state, graduates here can expect to start around $71,500—nearly identical to the state median and slightly above the national benchmark of $69,600. That puts this program in the solid middle tier for civil engineering, trailing only a handful of schools like Lawrence Tech and Wayne State by a few thousand dollars.

The estimated $27,000 in debt aligns closely with both state and national norms for civil engineering degrees, creating a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.38—comfortably below the concerning 1.0 threshold. Similar programs typically saddle students with $24,500 to $28,000 in loans, so Baker's figure sits right in the expected range. For a field with relatively stable starting salaries and clear career pathways, this debt load appears manageable, especially given the school's 38% Pell grant population suggesting accessible aid.

The catch is that we're working entirely from peer program data here—Baker's graduate cohort is too small for the Department of Education to publish actual outcomes. While Michigan's civil engineering programs show consistent results that inspire some confidence in these estimates, you're betting that Baker's placement and employer relationships match those of its in-state competitors. If you can verify recent graduate outcomes directly with the school, that would remove the guesswork.