Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities at St. John's College

St. John's College graduates start well behind the pack—earning just $25,307 in their first year out, which places this program in the bottom 10% statewide and bottom 5% nationally. That's roughly $11,000 below what the typical Maryland liberal arts graduate makes right out of school, and significantly less than public alternatives like Salisbury ($38,478) or Frostburg State ($32,889).

The silver lining is meaningful earnings growth: graduates see their income jump 44% by year four to $36,533, reaching the national and state median. The $27,000 debt load is typical for this field, so by year four the financial picture normalizes. But that doesn't erase the reality of those lean early years, when debt payments hit hardest. Given the school's 1381 average SAT score, families might reasonably wonder why high-performing students would accept bottom-decile starting salaries—unless St. John's distinctive great books curriculum offers non-financial returns the data can't capture.

For parents focused on economic security, this is a tough sell. Your child would need either family support to weather those first few years or a compelling reason why St. John's specific educational approach justifies earning $10,000+ less than peers at Maryland's public universities. The eventual catch-up is real, but it doesn't change the basic math: other schools deliver better immediate outcomes for less selective students.