Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations at Elon University

Elon's entrepreneurship program ranks among the top performers nationally, with first-year earnings of $62,626 placing it at the 95th percentile—nearly $17,000 above the national median for this degree. While debt figures aren't reported for this specific program, similar bachelor's programs at Elon typically leave students with around $25,000 in debt, suggesting a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.41. That's manageable territory: graduates could theoretically pay off their loans with about five months of gross earnings, assuming they match the strong outcomes their peers have achieved.

The challenge is that we're working with estimates here. The Department of Education suppresses data when graduate samples are small, which might mean this program is either boutique-sized or relatively new. What we do know is that Elon's outcomes beat every other North Carolina entrepreneurship program with reported data, including Johnson & Wales Charlotte by more than double. That consistency across the institution is reassuring, but it also means your child would be betting on a pattern holding rather than on documented outcomes from this specific program.

If your student is genuinely entrepreneurial and values Elon's hands-on learning environment, the estimated debt load paired with these earnings projections suggests a reasonable investment. But recognize you're making that decision with less certainty than you'd have with a larger, more established program where actual graduate outcomes are available.