Mechanical Engineering at Saint Ambrose University

Saint Ambrose's mechanical engineering graduates start at $73,622—outearning the typical Iowa mechanical engineer and landing near the 70th percentile nationally. That's competitive performance from a smaller engineering program, placing graduates roughly on par with Iowa State's outcomes. The $27,000 median debt sits well below both state and national averages, creating a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.37 that most engineering parents would find manageable. Graduates could feasibly clear their loans within a year or two of aggressive repayment.

The caveat here matters: we're looking at fewer than 30 graduates in this dataset, which means one exceptional cohort or a few outliers could skew the picture considerably. Still, the fundamentals make sense—a moderately selective program (73% admission rate) producing middle-of-the-pack engineers without loading them up with debt. For Iowa families, particularly those who'd pay significantly more at out-of-state engineering schools, the value equation works.

If your child thrives in smaller classroom settings and you're comfortable with the sample size uncertainty, Saint Ambrose delivers solid mechanical engineering outcomes without the debt burden that often accompanies private universities. Just recognize you're betting on a program with limited track record data rather than the proven scale of Iowa's public flagships.