Forestry at Purdue University-Main Campus

Purdue's forestry program produces graduates earning $43,029 in their first year—right at the national median for the field. With estimated debt around $22,607 based on typical borrowing patterns at similar bachelor's programs, graduates face manageable repayment of roughly half their first-year salary. That's reasonable by most standards, though it means forestry won't generate the quick financial returns of higher-earning majors.

What makes this particularly tricky to evaluate is that Purdue is the only school in Indiana offering this degree, so there's no local comparison point, and the graduate cohort is small enough that the Department of Education doesn't publish actual debt figures. The earnings data is real and places Purdue's graduates squarely in the middle of the pack nationally—not standout, but not lagging either. The estimated debt figure comes from peer programs at similar institutions, which suggests borrowing in the low-to-mid twenties is typical for this type of degree.

For a family considering this program, the math works if your child is genuinely committed to forestry careers. The 0.53 debt-to-earnings ratio indicates one year of salary covers double the debt load, and natural resource management jobs often come with stable employment and benefits that raw salary figures don't capture. Just recognize you're betting on a specialized field with modest starting pay, and the small program size—while potentially offering close faculty mentorship—also means fewer data points to confirm outcomes.