Mathematics at St. John Fisher University

A debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.47 suggests manageable numbers—based on comparable mathematics programs in New York, first-year earnings around $45,880 against estimated debt of $21,697 means your child would owe less than half their annual salary. That's within the range financial advisors consider reasonable, though it does trail the national median for math degrees by about $3,000 annually.

What's harder to gauge is where St. John Fisher University sits among New York's math programs. The state's top performers—Cornell, RPI, Fordham—launch graduates into considerably higher earnings, ranging from $58,000 to $87,000 in year one. These estimates for Fisher come from the typical New York math program, not Fisher's actual outcomes, because too few graduates reported data. That means you're betting on Fisher delivering results similar to the state median, without direct evidence to confirm it.

For a family investing in a private university education, the question becomes whether Fisher's teaching quality and student support justify confidence in that median outcome—or better. The manageable debt load provides some cushion if earnings come in on the lower end, but you're essentially making this decision without seeing Fisher's track record in launching math majors into careers. If your child has stronger academic credentials (Fisher's average SAT is 1207), exploring programs with documented outcomes might reduce that uncertainty.