Political Science and Government at Saint Anselm College

Saint Anselm's political science program costs about what you'd expect from a private liberal arts college—$27,000 in median debt—but delivers first-year earnings that outpace 78% of programs nationally. At $41,322, graduates earn nearly $6,000 more than the typical political science grad, putting them close to Southern New Hampshire University's outcomes despite Saint Anselm's much smaller scale and different educational model. Within New Hampshire, the program sits solidly in the middle of the pack, well behind Dartmouth's $72,000 but ahead of public options like UNH and Keene State.

The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.65 is notably better than what most liberal arts students face—you're looking at manageable debt relative to starting salary. The program ranks in just the 5th percentile nationally for debt burden, meaning 95% of comparable programs leave students with more debt. That's the private college premium working in your favor: the higher sticker price doesn't translate to crushing debt loads for most graduates.

The practical question is whether you value the small-college experience enough to pay private tuition when SNHU delivers similar starting salaries. If your student thrives in Saint Anselm's residential liberal arts environment and plans to leverage that network in New Hampshire or New England politics and nonprofits, the modest debt load makes this viable. But if cost is the primary concern, the public universities offer a lower-risk path to similar entry-level outcomes.