Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities at Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus

Fairleigh Dickinson's Liberal Arts program occupies a curious middle ground: it slightly outperforms both national and New Jersey medians for this degree, yet falls well behind the state's top performers. At $47,240 four years out, graduates earn about $9,000 more than the New Jersey median—but they're still making $10,000+ less than peers from schools like Rowan or Stockton. With relatively modest debt of $26,000, the program won't create a financial crisis, though the 0.67 debt-to-earnings ratio means graduates will still feel that burden in their first years out.

The trajectory here is worth noting: 21% earnings growth from year one to year four suggests graduates gain traction in the job market over time, which isn't always the case for general liberal arts degrees. Being in the 60th percentile among New Jersey programs means this isn't bottom-tier performance, but the 96% admission rate and broad curriculum suggest this isn't a particularly selective or specialized pathway either.

For families considering this program, the math works if the student genuinely needs a flexible liberal arts foundation and plans to leverage it strategically—perhaps for graduate school or a specific career pivot. But if your child has the academic profile to attend one of New Jersey's higher-ranked liberal arts programs, those would deliver meaningfully better outcomes for similar debt.