Social Work at Concordia University-Wisconsin

Social work graduates from comparable Wisconsin programs earn around $42,000 in their first year—right at the state median—while Concordia's students graduate with $27,000 in debt. That debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.64 suggests this program should be manageable financially, with graduates owing roughly eight months of their first-year salary. However, these earnings figures come from peer programs across Wisconsin since Concordia's own graduate cohort was too small for the Department of Education to report separately.

The debt load here sits near the national middle for bachelor's-level social work programs, which is actually encouraging given that social work is a helping profession with inherently modest starting salaries. What matters more is whether Concordia's actual outcomes track with these state averages. Programs like Viterbo and UW-River Falls place graduates at $44,000-$46,000, suggesting there's room for variation even within Wisconsin. The lack of reported data for Concordia specifically could reflect small cohort sizes or recent program growth—both reasonable explanations—but it does mean you're making decisions without seeing this school's track record.

For parents, the question is whether $27,000 in debt feels manageable on a $42,000 salary if those estimates hold true. That payment-to-income ratio should work for most graduates. But since you're relying on estimates rather than Concordia's actual outcomes, ask the school directly about job placement rates and where recent graduates are working. That conversation will tell you whether their results align with state norms or fall elsewhere on the spectrum.