Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations at Notre Dame College

When comparable entrepreneurship programs in Ohio produce first-year earnings around $47,700, the estimated $25,400 debt burden here translates to a manageable half-year's income—about on par with the national median for this degree. That's not spectacular, but it's workable, especially for a field where entrepreneurial success often builds over time rather than materializing immediately after graduation.

The challenge is that you're making this assessment largely blind. With both earnings and debt derived from peer programs rather than Notre Dame College's actual track record, you can't gauge whether this school's particular approach to entrepreneurship education—its network, its practicum opportunities, its faculty connections—actually translates into decent outcomes. Ohio's entrepreneurship programs span from Kent State's $47,300 to Dayton's $55,800, a $8,500 range that could meaningfully affect your child's financial trajectory.

For a family where 39% of students receive Pell grants, that debt level isn't crushing, but it's not trivial either. If your child has clear entrepreneurial drive and plans to leverage the degree for actual business ownership rather than traditional employment, the calculation changes entirely—entrepreneurship income can't be captured in year-one salary data. Otherwise, you're betting on a school whose outcomes in this specific program remain unproven by federal data.