Linguistic, Comparative, at The University of Texas at Arlington

UTA's linguistics program serves 40% Pell Grant students with manageable debt ($16,833), but the small graduate pool—fewer than 30 students—means these numbers could swing significantly year to year. That said, the pattern here is concerning: earnings actually drop from $30,895 to $28,517 between years one and four, suggesting graduates may struggle to find stable career footing in their field.

The state context matters. While this program scores solidly nationally (69th percentile), it lands near the middle of the pack in Texas (40th percentile), trailing UT Austin by about $4,000 and Stephen F. Austin by a substantial $7,000. Given Texas's relatively strong job market for language specialists, particularly in international business hubs like Dallas-Fort Worth, you'd hope to see trajectories moving upward rather than backward. The debt burden itself isn't alarming—it's below both state and national medians—but a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.54 becomes less appealing when paired with declining wages.

For families considering this program, the low sample size demands extra scrutiny: talk to current students about actual job placements and whether recent graduates are working in linguistics-related fields. If your child is interested in language studies, looking at UT Dallas or UT Austin might offer better outcomes for a comparable investment, unless location in Arlington provides specific advantages worth the earnings trade-off.