Literature at Bennington College

The small sample size here demands caution, but that $18,152 first-year salary should set off alarms for any family considering Bennington's literature program at full price. While this actually ranks at the 60th percentile for Vermont literature programs, that's only because there are just two schools offering the degree in-state—and this one sits $5,700 below the national median. With relatively modest debt of $27,000, the real problem isn't the loan burden itself but rather the starting salary that's barely above minimum wage, making even moderate debt payments a significant burden.

The context matters: Bennington is a selective liberal arts college (1358 average SAT) with a 48% admission rate, attracting academically strong students. Yet those students enter a first-year salary that ranks in just the 5th percentile nationally for literature majors. To put that in perspective, 95% of literature programs nationwide report higher starting salaries. For a family paying private college tuition, this represents a particularly stark value proposition when many state schools deliver literature degrees with stronger early career outcomes.

If your child is drawn to Bennington specifically for its distinctive pedagogy or faculty, understand you're making that choice primarily for the educational experience itself, not career outcomes. The tiny sample means individual circumstances vary widely, but families should plan for potentially lean early years and explore whether comparable private colleges show stronger salary trajectories for humanities graduates.