Business Administration, Management and Operations at Mount Marty University

Mount Marty's business program produces graduates earning nearly $6,000 less than typical South Dakota business majors, placing them below the middle of the pack among the state's 13 business programs. While the $27,000 debt load matches state averages, first-year earnings of $39,625 mean graduates fall short of the earnings from larger SD programs like Augustana ($50,516) and USD ($47,107). The 0.68 debt-to-earnings ratio is manageable, but the slight earnings decline by year four suggests graduates aren't gaining much early-career momentum.

The warning sign here is the small sample size—fewer than 30 graduates in this data set. That means these numbers could swing dramatically with just a few outliers, and they may not reliably predict what your child would experience. The earnings dip from year one to year four could be statistical noise rather than a real trend, though it's concerning either way.

If your child is set on Mount Marty for other reasons—perhaps its faith-based mission or small-campus environment—the debt burden won't be crushing. But purely from an ROI perspective, South Dakota offers multiple business programs where graduates consistently earn $5,000-$11,000 more annually. That gap compounds significantly over a career. For a business degree specifically, the state's public universities appear to deliver stronger employment outcomes at similar or lower debt levels.