Anthropology at Franklin Pierce University

Anthropology degrees from New Hampshire programs suggest first-year earnings around $40,000—a figure that's considerably stronger than the national median of $27,800 for this major. With estimated debt of $26,000, the 0.65 debt-to-earnings ratio indicates manageable repayment relative to starting salary, though this comes with an important caveat: we're extrapolating from just three other programs in the state, including Dartmouth's outcomes, which may not reflect the typical trajectory for Franklin Pierce graduates.

The challenge is that anthropology remains a notoriously difficult major for immediate career placement. While New Hampshire's small job market might offer some networking advantages, bachelor's-level anthropologists often need additional credentials or pivot to adjacent fields like cultural resource management, nonprofit work, or museum education to reach even these modest earnings. The $26,000 debt estimate is actually below both state and national medians for this degree, which helps, but it still means your child would be carrying debt into a field where graduate school is frequently necessary for advancement.

Franklin Pierce's 90% admission rate and modest academic profile suggest this isn't a highly selective environment that might open doors through prestige alone. If your child is genuinely passionate about anthropology and has a clear sense of how they'll apply it—perhaps through fieldwork opportunities, internships in New Hampshire's cultural institutions, or a specific career plan—the debt load is workable. Without that roadmap, though, a liberal arts degree from a less competitive school poses real questions about return on investment, even with better-than-average estimated earnings for the field.