Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at Chapman University

Chapman's Romance Languages program produces graduates earning $36,546—beating both the national median by about $2,000 and significantly outperforming the California median of $29,329. Among the 63 California schools offering this degree, Chapman ranks solidly in the 60th percentile, placing just behind UC Irvine but well ahead of most state programs. For a humanities degree that often struggles to deliver strong early earnings, these numbers tell a more encouraging story.

The $20,500 in typical debt sits below the national average, though it's higher than California's median. Still, with a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.56, graduates could theoretically pay off their loans in about seven months if they devoted their entire salary to it—a manageable burden by any standard. The real question for parents isn't whether the debt is reasonable, but whether their child plans to leverage this degree strategically, perhaps through graduate school, teaching, translation work, or international business roles where language skills command premiums.

The caveat: fewer than 30 students graduated from this program in the measured cohort, so one exceptional graduate or an unlucky job market year could skew these figures considerably. But Chapman's selective admissions and relatively affluent student body (only 20% receive Pell grants) suggest graduates likely have networks and resources that help them navigate the notoriously challenging humanities job market more successfully than their peers at less-resourced institutions.