Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities at Johnson & Wales University-Providence

With fewer than 30 graduates in the data, these numbers are less reliable than usual, but what we see is surprisingly middle-of-the-road. At $37,266 first-year earnings, Johnson & Wales liberal arts graduates edge out the national median by about $900 and land at the 60th percentile among Rhode Island programs—modest but real outperformance. The $28,090 in debt sits just above national norms, creating a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.75 that's manageable but not comfortable.

What's striking is the tiebreaking comparison: this program posts identical earnings to Johnson & Wales' online version while coming in $6,000 ahead of Providence College's liberal arts grads. For a school with an 84% admission rate, that's noteworthy. Still, these are liberal arts earnings—hovering just above $37,000 means graduates will feel every dollar of that debt load in their first years out.

The small sample size makes this risky to extrapolate from. A few high earners or an unusual graduating class could skew everything. But if these numbers hold, you're looking at a program that delivers slightly better than expected outcomes for a broadly accessible institution. Just know that "better than expected" in liberal arts still means modest starting salaries and several years of careful budgeting ahead.