Economics at Texas A&M University-College Station

Texas A&M's economics program starts graduates below both the national and state medians, landing around the 40th percentile among Texas schools. With first-year earnings of $49,738, graduates trail UT Austin by nearly $9,000 and sit about $1,300 below the state median. The debt picture is reasonable at $19,500, creating a manageable 0.39 debt-to-earnings ratio, but this advantage doesn't fully compensate for the earnings gap.

The program's saving grace is substantial income growth—earnings jump 41% to $70,306 by year four, outpacing many competitors' trajectories. This suggests Aggie economics graduates gain valuable skills and networks that employers increasingly reward. The robust sample size makes these figures reliable, and the relatively accessible admission standards (63% acceptance rate) mean this path is available to students who might not crack into Rice or UT Austin.

For families weighing options, this creates a tradeoff: accept lower starting salaries in exchange for strong mid-career momentum and modest debt. If your student has offers from UT Austin or SMU, those programs deliver better immediate returns. But if A&M is the most selective program on the table, the combination of affordable debt and improving earnings makes it a defensible choice—just understand you're betting on year-four outcomes rather than day-one paychecks.