Non-Professional General Legal Studies (Undergraduate) at Susquehanna University

A bachelor's degree in legal studies from Susquehanna carries an estimated $27,000 in debt—slightly above what similar programs nationally typically burden graduates with—while producing first-year earnings around $39,162 based on comparable programs nationwide. That debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.69 falls within manageable territory, suggesting graduates could theoretically dedicate about eight months of gross income to clearing their loans. However, the earnings figure itself warrants scrutiny: breaking down to roughly $19 per hour, it places graduates in a precarious position where finding stable employment with benefits becomes critical to making the investment pencil out.

The broader challenge with undergraduate legal studies programs is that they rarely lead directly to traditional legal careers without law school, yet the debt here assumes you're done with education. If your child views this as pre-law preparation, add another $100,000+ in law school debt to the calculation. If they're planning to stop at the bachelor's level, peer programs suggest they'll enter fields like compliance, paralegal work, or general business roles where the "legal studies" credential may offer little advantage over a standard business or communication degree with lower debt.

Given the small sample size that forced these estimates, Susquehanna's actual outcomes could differ meaningfully—better or worse. The safest bet: treat this as viable only if your child has a concrete post-graduation plan that doesn't require law school, or if the $27,000 debt estimate proves conservative once actual costs emerge.