Political Science and Government at Mount Vernon Nazarene University

Political science graduates from comparable Ohio programs typically earn around $37,000 in their first year—a figure that mirrors both state and national benchmarks for this degree. At an estimated $26,000 in student debt, the financial picture falls squarely in the middle for this field. The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.70 suggests that graduates would dedicate roughly 70% of their first year's salary to clearing this debt burden, though real-world repayment typically stretches over a decade.

The challenge here is less about Mount Vernon Nazarene specifically and more about political science bachelor's degrees generally. Ohio's top programs—Miami University, Ashland, Xavier—show first-year earnings in the low-to-mid $40,000s, revealing that even strong programs in this field don't produce dramatically higher early career outcomes. The $10,000 gap between peer programs' typical outcomes and the best-performing schools is notable but not transformative when you're starting from a $37,000 baseline.

For parents, the central question is whether this debt load makes sense for a degree that typically leads to entry-level positions in nonprofit work, government, or graduate school preparation. The estimated figures suggest manageable but not trivial debt for earnings that will require careful budgeting. If your student plans to pursue law school or other graduate education—common paths for political science majors—factor in how this undergraduate debt compounds with future borrowing.