Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities at Syracuse University

A debt load of roughly $25,000 against first-year earnings around $36,000 might sound reasonable, but remember these figures come from other liberal arts programs across New York—not Syracuse's actual graduates. That 0.69 debt ratio sits below the national benchmark for this field, but the broader context is harder to read: when a selective private university (42% admission rate, 1351 average SAT) doesn't report actual outcomes, you're left guessing whether their graduates mirror the state average or outperform it significantly.

The state comparison reveals substantial variation in liberal arts outcomes. Some New York programs—Molloy at $75,000, Cornell at $46,000—produce dramatically higher earnings than the $36,000 estimate used here. Whether Syracuse's actual graduates cluster near the state median or closer to these higher performers is unknowable from this data. For a family paying private university tuition at a school drawing academically accomplished students, that uncertainty matters. You're potentially investing far more than you would at a SUNY campus for outcomes that may or may not justify the premium.

Before committing, press the admissions office hard on what their liberal arts graduates actually earn and what career support looks like. If they can't provide concrete placement data or alumni earnings that beat the state average by a meaningful margin, you're essentially paying private school prices for middle-of-the-pack results—or at least, you can't prove otherwise.