Forestry at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's forestry graduates earn well above the national median ($55,092 versus $43,029), but be aware this analysis is based on fewer than 30 graduates. Within California's limited forestry landscape—just four schools offer the program—Cal Poly ranks near the middle for earnings while charging noticeably less debt than the state median ($17,000 versus $19,586). The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.31 is excellent, meaning graduates owe about a third of their first-year salary, and earnings show healthy growth to $67,118 by year four.

The challenge here is less about the financial metrics—which look solid—and more about the small cohort size. Forestry is a niche field, and when sample sizes dip below 30, a few outlier graduates can skew the numbers significantly. Your child could reasonably expect strong earnings relative to other forestry programs nationwide, but there's more uncertainty in these projections than you'd see with larger datasets.

For families comfortable with the inherent risks of a specialized environmental field, the combination of manageable debt and above-average starting salaries makes this worth serious consideration. Just recognize that actual outcomes for any individual graduate may vary more widely than these medians suggest.