Biology at Our Lady of the Lake University

The numbers here raise serious red flags, even accounting for the small sample size. Biology graduates from Our Lady of the Lake are earning $18,452 one year out—less than full-time minimum wage work—while carrying $28,250 in debt. That puts them in the bottom 10% of Texas biology programs and the bottom 5% nationally. For context, the median Texas biology graduate earns $30,432, and even mid-tier state schools like Texas State deliver nearly double these earnings.

What makes this particularly troubling is the debt load. While the university serves a predominantly Pell-eligible population (57%), the $28,250 in debt is actually above both state and national medians for biology programs. Combined with those first-year earnings, graduates face a debt-to-income ratio of 1.53—meaning they owe more than they earn in their entire first year. Biology graduates often need additional credentials for better-paying positions, but starting this far behind financially makes those next steps harder to reach.

The small sample size means these figures could be anomalous, but they're so far below every benchmark that they warrant serious concern. Before committing here, your child should explore whether other Texas public universities might offer better outcomes—many have proven track records of moving biology graduates into careers that can service this level of debt.