Sociology at Ohio Northern University

At $27,469 in estimated debt against first-year earnings around $36,500, Ohio Northern's sociology program appears to track close to typical outcomes for similar programs in Ohio. The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.75 suggests graduates would need to allocate about three-quarters of their first year's salary to pay off student loans—manageable but not particularly comfortable, especially when peer programs at schools like Miami University and University of Cincinnati report substantially higher earnings in the $42,000-$43,000 range for their sociology graduates.

The challenge here is that actual outcomes for Ohio Northern's program aren't available due to small graduate samples, so these estimates from comparable programs may not reflect what this specific school delivers. What we do know is that Ohio Northern charges private school tuition (hence the higher debt load compared to the state median of $25,000) while the earnings estimate aligns with public university outcomes. For a selective private institution with an average SAT of 1290, you'd hope to see a premium in graduate outcomes that justifies the additional borrowing.

Given the uncertainty around actual outcomes and the higher debt load, families should request the school's own placement data for sociology graduates and compare the total cost of attendance against public alternatives. If Ohio Northern can't demonstrate better-than-average results for its sociology majors, the debt premium becomes harder to justify.