Business Administration, Management and Operations at Fresno Pacific University

Fresno Pacific's business program punches well above its weight nationally—placing in the 84th percentile for earnings among over 1,600 programs—while maintaining manageable debt levels. First-year graduates earn $55,365, nearly $10,000 more than the national median for business programs and about $6,000 above California's state median. By year four, earnings climb to $62,736, showing healthy 13% growth. The $25,000 median debt translates to a comfortable 0.45 debt-to-earnings ratio, meaning graduates earn more than twice what they owe.

The 60th percentile ranking within California tells an important story: while this program can't match the elite outcomes at Berkeley ($90,008) or USC ($71,668), it delivers solidly above-average results at a school where 59% of students receive Pell grants. That's a significant achievement for a regional private university serving a predominantly low-income student population. The debt load is actually $4,000 higher than California's median for business programs, but the stronger earnings more than offset this difference.

For families in the Central Valley or students drawn to Fresno Pacific's faith-based mission, this represents a reliable path to middle-class earnings without the crushing debt that sometimes accompanies private education. The robust sample size confirms these aren't outlier results—this is what typical graduates actually earn.