Mechanical Engineering at Benedictine College

A first-year salary of $71,539 puts Benedictine's mechanical engineering program solidly in the middle of the pack—slightly above the national median and comparable to what University of Kansas graduates earn. For a smaller private college competing against state flagship programs, that's a respectable outcome. The debt picture requires some estimation since Benedictine's graduate cohort is too small for the DOE to publish actual figures, but based on national patterns at similar institutions, students likely leave with around $26,460 in loans—a debt load that would demand about 37% of first-year earnings, which is manageable in engineering fields.

What matters most is whether Benedictine's smaller program offers advantages that justify choosing it over Kansas State or KU, which both produce similar or slightly better earnings outcomes. The school's 76% admission rate and modest Pell enrollment (16%) suggest a different student body than the state's research universities, and the hands-on learning environment at a smaller college might appeal to students who would struggle in a 300-person lecture hall. But purely on return-on-investment, you're paying private college debt for outcomes that resemble what Kansas's public universities deliver.

The takeaway: if your student thrives in smaller settings and needs the structure a place like Benedictine provides, the estimated debt burden won't be crushing with these engineering salaries. But if they can handle the size and rigor of Kansas State or KU, those programs offer comparable outcomes with lower debt risk.