Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at Gonzaga University

Gonzaga's Romance Languages program costs more than it delivers in early returns, but the picture isn't quite as dire as it first appears. With just under $30,000 in first-year earnings against $27,000 in debt, graduates face a challenging financial start—though the debt burden ranks among the lowest 5% nationally for this major. Within Washington state, these earnings actually exceed the median for Romance Languages programs, placing in the 60th percentile.

That state comparison matters because most alternatives aren't dramatically better. Only University of Washington campuses show significantly higher earnings ($34,572), while programs at Seattle University and Eastern Washington produce similar outcomes. Nationally, however, Gonzaga trails the median by about $4,600, suggesting this is genuinely a lower-earning field where location and institutional prestige have limited impact on early salaries.

The small sample size here is critical—with fewer than 30 graduates tracked, a few students pursuing graduate school or taking gap years could skew these numbers substantially. For a family paying Gonzaga's private tuition, the question isn't whether Romance Languages pays well (it doesn't, anywhere), but whether the broader liberal arts education and credential justify the cost when earnings lag behind less expensive in-state options. If language study is the goal, Washington's publics offer similar outcomes with lower debt.