Biology at Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & Clark's biology graduates start at just $24,050—well below Oregon's median of $31,000 for biology majors and landing in the bottom 5% nationally. While you'll hear that the relatively modest debt of $21,464 is "manageable," that first-year salary barely covers basic living expenses in Portland, where rent alone can consume half of take-home pay. Even among Oregon's biology programs, where this degree ranks in just the 25th percentile, comparable schools like University of Oregon and Pacific University deliver immediate earnings $10,000-$18,000 higher.

The 66% earnings jump to $40,000 by year four offers some recovery, but you're still looking at four years of financial strain right when your child might be considering graduate school or establishing independence. For context, biology grads from Linfield start near where Lewis & Clark students end up after four years. The small sample size here (under 30 graduates) means these figures could shift with more data, but the pattern is concerning enough to warrant comparison shopping.

If your child is set on biology and Lewis & Clark specifically, understand you're paying for the liberal arts experience and campus culture—not career preparation that justifies the investment on earnings alone. Oregon State or University of Oregon would deliver better financial outcomes for this major.