Agricultural Business and Management at Shawnee Community College

An estimated debt load of roughly $12,000 against first-year earnings around $37,400 yields a manageable 0.32 debt-to-earnings ratio—well below the threshold where loan payments become burdensome. These figures come from national benchmarks for associate-level agricultural business programs, since Shawnee's graduate cohort is too small for the Department of Education to publish. What's striking is the gap between the national median this program aligns with and Illinois' own reported figure of $22,300, which comes from just one comparable program in the state. That $15,000 spread matters considerably when you're weighing whether an associate's degree delivers enough earning power to justify even modest debt.

The practical question is whether Shawnee's graduates track closer to the national pattern or the lower Illinois outcome. Southern Illinois has its own agricultural economy, and regional job markets can diverge sharply from broader trends. If this program feeds into local agribusiness operations or farm management roles with established pipelines, the higher estimate may hold. But if graduates face the same constrained market reflected in that $22,300 state figure, the picture dims significantly. At 34% Pell enrollment, many families here are starting with limited financial cushion.

Given the uncertainty, the debt load at least remains containable even in a downside scenario—monthly payments would still be workable at the lower earning level. But talk to the program directly about where recent graduates actually landed and what their starting pay looked like, because that $15,000 range makes all the difference in whether this is a smart stepping stone or a credential that underperforms.