Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at The University of Texas at Austin

UT Austin's Romance Languages program follows an unusual trajectory that separates it from typical humanities concerns. While the $34,929 first-year salary barely exceeds national and state medians, earnings jump 53% by year four to $53,437—outpacing 85% of similar programs in Texas and landing graduates near the top tier nationally. The question is whether students can weather those lean early years.

The debt picture is manageable: at $19,241, it's below the Texas median and creates a 0.55 ratio to first-year earnings. This puts graduates in a better position than most Romance Languages majors nationwide, where debt tends to run higher. By year four, when earnings hit $53K, the debt burden becomes quite reasonable. This program ranks in the 60th percentile among Texas schools—solidly middle-of-the-pack—but the real story is where graduates end up, not where they start.

For an anxious parent, this matters: your child likely won't match their engineering peers in early earnings, but UT Austin's network and academic reputation appear to create pathways that pay off within a presidential term. The moderate sample size suggests steady, reliable data. If your student is genuinely passionate about languages and willing to invest in building skills beyond the classroom during those first few years, this program offers surprisingly strong upward mobility for a humanities degree.