Fine and Studio Arts at Keene State College

Keene State's Fine Arts program manages something that often eludes BFA programs: graduates out-earn the national median by nearly 27%, placing them in the 86th percentile nationally. While the $31,390 first-year salary won't match STEM fields, it's significantly better than the $24,742 typical for studio arts graduates elsewhere, and the program keeps debt relatively low at $27,000—actually below the national median for this degree.

The caveat here matters: we're looking at fewer than 30 graduates, so individual circumstances could heavily influence these numbers. Still, the pattern looks solid. The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.86 means graduates owe less than a year's salary, a manageable position for an arts degree. Within New Hampshire, Keene State performs competitively, landing at the 60th percentile—roughly on par with Plymouth State and slightly ahead of Dartmouth for this specific program.

For parents weighing an arts degree, this represents a reasonable scenario: your child won't be wealthy right out of college, but they're unlikely to be crushed by debt either. The real question is whether they're genuinely committed to building a career in visual arts, because even these relatively strong outcomes require hustle. If they are, Keene State appears to deliver solid training without the debt burden that makes many BFA programs genuinely risky.