Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at Colby College

Colby's Romance Languages program produces early earnings 23% above the national median for this field, landing graduates at $42,326—a meaningful advantage in a discipline not known for high starting salaries. Against Maine's limited competition (only six schools offer this program), Colby holds its own at the 60th percentile, though nearby Bates produces similar outcomes. The debt load of $17,500 is impressively low, creating a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.41 that's manageable even on humanities-level pay.

The real question is whether a 7% admission rate school with elite test scores should yield just $42,000 in starting earnings. Students who get into Colby typically have options at peer institutions, and some of those alternative programs might lead to stronger financial outcomes. That said, the modest debt means students aren't mortgaging their futures—they're buying flexibility to pursue graduate school, teaching positions, or other career paths where foreign language expertise matters.

The tiny sample size (under 30 graduates) means a few outliers could skew these figures significantly. But taken at face value, this looks like a reasonably safe bet for a student genuinely committed to language study: you're getting elite credentials with middle-class debt, not Wall Street earnings but not crushing financial burden either.