Computer and Information Sciences at George Fox University

George Fox's computer science bachelor's program sits squarely in the middle of Oregon's field—its $55,340 first-year earnings match the state median exactly—but graduates here start significantly behind the national norm of $61,000. While students at the school typically borrow around $25,860 (based on the national median for similar institutions), that debt load represents less than half a year's salary, which is manageable territory for tech careers. The challenge is that comparable Oregon programs show a 25% earnings gap: University of Oregon CS grads start near $70,000, and even Oregon Tech graduates pull $58,000.

The program's 96% admission rate and modest SAT scores suggest George Fox isn't attracting the same caliber of CS students as Oregon's flagship, which partly explains the earnings difference. But in a field where internships, personal projects, and technical skills matter as much as the diploma itself, motivated students can still build solid careers from this foundation. The debt-to-earnings math works—you're not talking about catastrophic borrowing—but parents should understand they're paying for a smaller school environment rather than the recruiting pipeline and alumni network that comes with larger tech programs.

The practical question: Is the George Fox experience worth starting $15,000 behind peers from UO? That depends entirely on whether your student thrives in smaller settings and will aggressively pursue internships and skill-building. The median outcome here is a decent middle-class tech job, not a Silicon Valley launch pad.