Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences at California State University-Stanislaus

With a small sample size that demands caution, Cal State Stanislaus's Health Sciences program shows a $36,383 first-year salary that trails other California State Universities by a meaningful margin—about $6,500 below Fresno and $8,000 behind Sacramento. Among California's 34 programs, this lands in the 40th percentile, suggesting half of in-state alternatives deliver stronger early outcomes. The $16,025 median debt is genuinely low (5th percentile nationally), but that advantage matters less when peer CSU campuses offer both comparable debt loads and significantly higher starting salaries.

The concerning piece here is the state context: California's median for this degree is $40,057, nearly $4,000 higher than what Stanislaus graduates report earning. For a program at an accessible CSU campus serving many first-generation students (55% receive Pell grants), you'd hope to see outcomes closer to the state average. The 0.44 debt-to-earnings ratio looks manageable on paper, but it reflects more about keeping borrowing minimal than about strong wage outcomes.

Given the limited sample size, these figures could swing considerably year to year. If your student has compelling reasons to attend Stanislaus specifically—family proximity, existing community ties—the modest debt means they won't be trapped by their choice. But purely as an investment, other CSU health sciences programs appear to open doors to better-paying early career positions without requiring substantially more borrowing.