History at Clarke University

In Iowa's small liberal arts landscape, history programs show considerable variation in early outcomes, from Iowa State's $41,000 to Northern Iowa's $27,500. Clarke's estimated first-year earnings of $36,400—derived from the four Iowa history programs with reported data—land squarely in the middle of this range, slightly above both the state and national medians. With estimated debt around $26,000, graduates would face monthly loan payments of roughly $290, consuming about 10% of their gross income in the first year.

The limitation here is that these estimates tell us what *peer programs* typically produce, not what Clarke graduates specifically achieve. The school serves a population where over a third receive Pell grants, and its history cohorts graduate too few students for the Department of Education to report outcomes publicly. This means we can't know whether Clarke's particular approach—its faculty, advising, or alumni network—performs better or worse than the state average we're using as a proxy.

For parents weighing this investment, the estimated numbers suggest manageable debt relative to likely earnings, assuming Clarke's outcomes mirror other Iowa history programs. But without program-specific data, you're essentially betting on average performance. If your student has admission offers from Iowa State or Grinnell—schools with higher reported earnings—those represent known quantities worth comparing directly.