Criminal Justice and Corrections at Nevada State University

Nevada State University's Criminal Justice program graduates earn $36,363 their first year out—below both the national median ($37,856) and Nevada's median ($40,365). Landing at the 40th percentile among Nevada's four criminal justice programs, graduates here trail University of Phoenix-Nevada by over $11,000 and even UNLV by about $1,300. For a field where starting salaries rarely climb much higher, this initial gap matters.

The silver lining is debt. At $19,500, it's roughly half what criminal justice graduates typically carry in Nevada ($33,736) and well below the national median. This lighter debt load—just 54% of first-year earnings—means graduates can realistically pay off their loans within a few years rather than dragging them through their careers. That's a meaningful advantage in a field where earnings growth is modest.

The tradeoff here is straightforward: you're accepting below-average earnings in exchange for substantially less debt. For students who can attend Nevada State affordably and plan to stay local (where they understand the job market), this can work. But parents should know their child will likely start behind peers from other Nevada programs, and in criminal justice, catching up isn't guaranteed. If maximizing early earnings matters for your family's financial situation, UNLV offers similar debt with better starting pay.