Natural Resources Conservation and Research at Carthage College

The small sample size here demands caution, but the pattern is troubling: Carthage's natural resources graduates earn $25,553 their first year—about $6,000 below Wisconsin's median for the field and nearly $8,500 below the national figure. When five UW system schools are placing graduates at $31,000-$36,000, that gap represents real money. The $27,000 debt load is actually slightly higher than what graduates at better-performing programs typically carry, creating a debt-to-earnings ratio that exceeds 1:1.

What makes this particularly difficult to evaluate is the tiny cohort size. With fewer than 30 graduates, these figures could easily reflect a couple of students taking intentional gap years, pursuing graduate school, or working seasonal positions common in conservation fields. Natural resources careers also notoriously start slow before accelerating with specialized certifications and field experience. Still, even accounting for these factors, the 25th percentile ranking within Wisconsin suggests structural challenges—three-quarters of comparable programs in the state are achieving better outcomes.

For families paying private school tuition for a field where public universities dominate both enrollment and employer pipelines, this is a hard sell. Unless your student has compelling reasons to choose Carthage specifically—unique research opportunities, strong faculty connections in their niche—the UW system offers clearer paths into conservation careers at likely lower cost.