Sociology at Drury University

Drury's sociology program comes with a cautionary flag: the sample size here is tiny (under 30 graduates), which means these numbers could swing dramatically year to year. That said, what we're seeing shows graduates earning slightly above both Missouri and national medians—around $35,900 in the first year, placing them in the 60th percentile statewide. That's respectable positioning, though not dramatically different from what you'd see at larger state universities.

The real concern isn't the starting salary—it's the combination of flat earnings trajectory and elevated debt. Graduates leave with about $34,000 in loans, roughly $8,000 more than typical sociology majors in Missouri. With a debt-to-earnings ratio near 1:1, students are borrowing nearly a full year's salary, and earnings actually dip slightly by year four rather than growing. At Columbia College, sociology graduates start $2,000 higher and presumably have more room to grow.

For a family paying private school prices, this is a tough value equation. Unless your child has significant merit aid bringing costs down substantially, Missouri's public universities offer similar or better outcomes with typically lower debt loads. The small sample size means we can't be certain these patterns hold, but right now the data suggests caution about taking on above-average debt for middle-of-the-pack results in a field where earnings don't typically surge early in careers.