Health and Physical Education/Fitness at Shenandoah University

Among Virginia's health and physical education programs, Shenandoah punches well above its weight. Graduates earn nearly $38,000 in their first year—about 30% more than the state median for this field and substantially above the national average. Within Virginia, only Longwood posts higher earnings, and Shenandoah sits firmly in the 80th percentile statewide. The $27,000 debt load is roughly average and translates to a 0.72 debt-to-earnings ratio, meaning graduates owe less than their first year's salary.

The caveat matters here: with fewer than 30 recent graduates in the dataset, these numbers could shift with a larger sample. Small cohorts can produce misleading outliers, and it's worth verifying current outcomes if possible. That said, the pattern is encouraging—the program substantially outperforms most competitors in a field where earnings tend to be modest.

For parents weighing this program, the fundamentals look solid. Your child would likely graduate with manageable debt and earn meaningfully more than typical phys ed graduates, both nationally and within Virginia. Just recognize you're betting on a small program with limited outcome data rather than the track record of a larger department.