Health Professions at Goodwin University

Goodwin's Health Professions associate degree graduates earn nearly $13,000 more than the national median in their first year—impressive on the surface, but the state context matters here. As the only Connecticut school in this dataset reporting this specific program, we can't verify whether Goodwin's graduates truly outperform local competitors or if this simply reflects Connecticut's higher cost of living and healthcare wages. The $48,291 starting salary sits at the 95th percentile nationally, though that comparison includes schools in lower-wage states.

The concern is debt: $39,835 is more than double the national median for associate-level health professions programs. While the 0.82 debt-to-earnings ratio suggests graduates can theoretically pay this off with discipline, it's a heavy burden for a two-year degree when many comparable programs elsewhere saddle students with half as much debt. Nearly half of Goodwin students receive Pell grants, meaning many families are starting from a financial disadvantage.

The small sample size here is a genuine wildcard—with fewer than 30 graduates in the data, a few outliers could skew these numbers significantly either direction. For families considering this program, the question boils down to whether the strong first-year earnings justify twice the typical debt load, especially without clear evidence of how Goodwin stacks up against other Connecticut health programs.