Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions at Miami University-Oxford

Miami University-Oxford's rehabilitation and therapeutic professions program sits at a crossroads that should concern cost-conscious families. Based on comparable programs across Ohio, graduates typically earn around $36,000 in their first year while carrying roughly $26,300 in debt—a 0.73 debt-to-earnings ratio that means nearly nine months of gross income goes toward student loans. For a bachelor's degree from a university where only 11% of students receive Pell grants, these figures suggest a program that may underprice the investment relative to the institution's overall cost structure.

What makes this particularly challenging is that similar programs in Ohio show a narrow earnings band, with even top-performing schools like University of Toledo reaching only $37,500 in first-year earnings. This field appears to have a compressed salary ceiling at the entry level, regardless of where you earn your degree. That means the premium you might expect from Miami's higher selectivity (SAT average of 1313) doesn't translate into meaningfully higher starting salaries compared to less selective state universities offering the same major.

The practical takeaway: if your student is set on rehabilitation professions, investigate whether this particular program leads directly to licensure or certification, and whether graduates typically need additional credentials to launch their careers. A bachelor's alone in this field may be just the foundation, with real earning potential requiring graduate work—which would mean this debt is only the beginning of the investment.