Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies at Mid-America Christian University

A debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.75 sounds manageable on paper, but the story gets murkier when you look at Oklahoma specifically. While peer programs nationally suggest first-year earnings around $35,000 with $26,500 in debt, the one Oklahoma program with actual reported data—the University of Oklahoma—shows graduates earning $46,614. That's a $11,000 gap, and it raises real questions about whether this interdisciplinary degree will deliver similar returns at a smaller private institution.

The 40% Pell grant rate at Mid-America Christian tells you this serves a population where every earnings dollar matters. Interdisciplinary studies programs can be excellent for students with specific career goals or those combining the degree with professional networks, but they can also struggle to translate into clear job market signals for employers. Without seeing actual graduate outcomes from this particular program, you're essentially betting that it performs closer to the national average than to Oklahoma's higher-performing programs.

Here's the practical challenge: if outcomes track closer to that $35,000 estimate, your child faces roughly nine months of gross earnings in debt—not catastrophic, but not comfortable either for a bachelor's degree. Before committing, push the school hard for placement data, alumni connections in your child's target field, and concrete evidence of how past graduates have leveraged this degree. The estimates suggest mediocre value, and you need more than estimates to justify the investment.