Management Information Systems and Services at Eastern Washington University

Eastern Washington University's MIS program starts graduates at $41,331—about $18,000 below both the national and Washington state median for this field. Among the six Washington schools offering this program, it ranks in just the 10th percentile, with Western Washington and Washington State graduates earning roughly $20,000 more in their first year. That's a significant gap in a tech-adjacent field where entry-level salaries typically determine your career trajectory.

The silver lining is impressive earnings growth: graduates see a 50% jump to $62,063 by year four, essentially catching up to where their peers started. The modest debt load of $19,802 helps too—you'll owe less than $20,000 while peers at other schools carry $22,000-24,000. However, the sample size here is very small (under 30 graduates), which means these numbers could shift dramatically year to year and may not represent a typical graduate's experience.

For families considering this program, the key question is whether saving a few thousand dollars in debt justifies starting your career $18,000 behind the median MIS graduate in Washington. If your child has the credentials for Western Washington or WSU, those programs offer substantially stronger earning potential from day one. The small sample size adds another layer of uncertainty—these numbers might not reflect what your student would actually earn.