Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences at Johnson & Wales University-Providence

Johnson & Wales' health sciences program shows promising numbers, but the small graduating class (under 30 students) means these results could shift significantly year to year. With that caveat in mind, graduates earn $39,502 their first year—about 12% above the national median for this degree and matching Rhode Island's typical outcome. The $27,000 in median debt translates to manageable monthly payments relative to that income.

The 0.68 debt-to-earnings ratio sits comfortably in the "affordable" range, and notably, students here carry less debt than 75% of peers nationally in similar programs. In Rhode Island's small market of five schools offering this degree, Johnson & Wales performs middle-of-the-pack—identical to its online counterpart but ahead of Rhode Island College's $34,995. The program serves a solidly middle-class student body (30% on Pell grants) at an open-access institution.

The real question is sustainability: with such a small cohort, one year's strong placement outcomes might not predict the next. If your child is already drawn to Johnson & Wales for other reasons—maybe the culinary campus culture or specific faculty—these numbers suggest the health sciences program won't be a financial burden. But if you're choosing between schools purely on this data, you'd want to dig deeper into placement rates and whether graduates are landing in positions with growth potential beyond that $39,500 starting point.