Environmental Design at Ball State University

Ball State's Environmental Design program carries an estimated debt load of $22,844 against first-year earnings around $40,000—a reasonable 0.57 ratio that suggests graduates can manage their loans. However, these figures come from national peers rather than tracked outcomes from this specific program, which has too few graduates for the Department of Education to report. That means you're making a bet on whether Ball State's version will perform like the typical Environmental Design program elsewhere.

The field itself shows limited variation nationally—earnings cluster tightly around $40,000, and only 38 schools offer this specialized bachelor's degree. For students committed to environmental design work, this represents a niche credential with modest but stable entry-level pay. The debt burden appears manageable at roughly half a year's salary, assuming those national patterns hold for Ball State graduates.

The real question is whether your child needs this specific degree title. Many environmental design careers intersect with architecture, landscape architecture, or urban planning—fields where the school's reputation and portfolio development matter enormously. Before committing, verify what Ball State's program actually prepares students for and whether those outcomes justify choosing a program operating at such small scale that its results can't be tracked independently.