Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering at Bucknell University

Bucknell's environmental engineering program comes with an estimated debt load of $27,000—slightly above the typical national figure but below Pennsylvania's state median. With peer programs nationally producing first-year earnings around $64,675, that translates to a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.42, meaning graduates would owe roughly five months of their first year's salary. That's manageable by most standards, though it's worth noting both the earnings and debt figures here are derived from similar programs elsewhere since Bucknell's graduate cohort was too small for the Department of Education to publish specific outcomes.

What makes this trickier to evaluate is the limited data: we're comparing to just 47 programs nationally for earnings estimates and only 5 similar institutions for debt projections. Environmental engineering programs can vary significantly in focus—some lean heavily toward civil engineering applications, others toward industrial compliance or remediation—and those differences matter for career outcomes. Bucknell's selective profile (32% admission rate, average SAT of 1389) suggests strong preparation, but the lack of program-specific data means you're making a decision without seeing how this particular curriculum performs in the job market.

The ratio itself suggests reasonable economics if the estimates hold true, but you'd want to dig into where Bucknell's graduates actually land. Engineering programs justify their cost through placement outcomes—not just starting salaries but which employers recruit on campus and what percentage land roles in their field. Without that visibility here, you're relying heavily on the Bucknell brand and general engineering outcomes rather than hard evidence about this specific degree's return.