Statistics at Butler University

Butler's statistics program operates in a competitive Indiana market where graduates from the state's flagship, Purdue, earn substantially more—$72,579 versus an estimated $59,718 here. That $13,000 gap matters when you're comparing programs at the bachelor's level, especially in a field where technical skills and institutional reputation can significantly influence starting salaries. The estimated debt load of $16,875 is manageable relative to first-year earnings, but the earnings themselves lag behind what peer programs in Indiana typically produce.

The modest debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.28 suggests graduates could realistically handle their loan payments, but that calculation assumes the earnings estimate holds true for Butler specifically. Statistics degrees generally lead to strong career prospects in analytics, data science, and research roles, yet the estimated figures here suggest Butler graduates may be entering at lower salary bands than their state counterparts. This could reflect differences in recruiting pipelines, geographic placement, or the types of roles graduates pursue.

Given the uncertainty around these estimates and the clear earnings advantage at other Indiana programs, families should directly ask Butler's career services for placement outcomes: which companies recruit their statistics graduates, what roles they enter, and what actual starting salaries look like. If Butler's graduates consistently land at companies or in sectors that pay less than Purdue's, that's valuable information for understanding whether the smaller, private university environment justifies potentially lower financial returns.