Mathematics at Bryan College-Dayton

A debt burden of roughly $22,000 for a mathematics degree wouldn't be alarming if the earnings justified it, but Bryan College's situation is harder to evaluate because both figures come from peer institutions rather than actual graduate outcomes. Similar mathematics programs in Tennessee suggest first-year earnings around $51,000, which would create a manageable 0.42 debt-to-earnings ratio—meaning graduates could theoretically pay off loans within two to five years under standard repayment plans.

The challenge here is context. Tennessee's mathematics programs show extraordinary variance, from Vanderbilt's six-figure outcomes to UT-Knoxville's $39,000. Bryan College's small cohorts (hence the suppressed data) make it difficult to know where they actually fall on that spectrum. A faith-based liberal arts college in rural Tennessee likely produces different career pathways than research universities with direct pipelines to tech companies or graduate programs. The estimated debt is slightly above the state median for math programs, while earnings estimates match it exactly—suggesting middle-of-the-pack performance if the estimates hold true.

For parents, the real question is what your child plans to do with this degree. If they're headed to graduate school or teaching, these estimated numbers might look reasonable. If they're expecting to compete for quantitative analyst or data science roles against graduates from larger programs, you'll want to investigate Bryan's actual placement record and alumni network strength—information the Department of Education data simply can't capture for programs this size.