Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities at Cumberland University

At $23,264 in first-year earnings, Cumberland's liberal arts program falls dramatically short—earning barely above minimum wage and landing in the bottom 10% both nationally and within Tennessee. Compare this to Lee University's liberal arts graduates at $46,000 or even the Tennessee median of $37,000, and you're looking at nearly $14,000 less annually than you'd typically expect from this degree in-state. That gap compounds significantly over a career.

The debt load of $28,476 might seem manageable in isolation, but paired with such low earnings, graduates face a debt burden exceeding their entire first-year salary. Most financial advisors recommend keeping student debt below your expected annual income, yet this program inverts that rule. While a third of students receive Pell grants—suggesting Cumberland serves lower-income families who arguably need the strongest employment outcomes—the program delivers some of the weakest returns in the state.

The critical caveat: this data reflects fewer than 30 graduates, so a few struggling students could skew the picture unfairly. However, even accounting for statistical noise, the earnings would need to be off by $10,000+ to reach respectability. For families considering Cumberland's liberal arts program, the safer path would be exploring their career-focused majors or looking at Tennessee's public universities, where this degree consistently delivers stronger outcomes.