Criminal Justice and Corrections at University of Alaska Fairbanks

A first-year salary of $34,617 falls short of what most Criminal Justice graduates earn in Alaska—about $2,200 below the state median and $5,000 behind what UAA graduates typically make. That gap matters when you're starting nearly $25,000 in debt. While the debt load itself is reasonable (actually slightly lower than Alaska's average for this program), the combination puts UAF's Criminal Justice program in the bottom half statewide. The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.70 means your child would owe about eight months' salary, which is manageable but not impressive given the modest starting point.

The small sample size here is critical context—with fewer than 30 graduates in the data, a few outliers could skew these numbers significantly. Criminal Justice careers also vary wildly depending on the specific role and employer, from corrections officers to state troopers to federal positions. If your child is set on UAF for other reasons (location preference, specific faculty, ties to Fairbanks-area law enforcement), the program won't saddle them with crushing debt. But if they're comparing options purely on economic outcomes, UAA's track record looks stronger, and the limited data here makes it hard to confidently project what their actual experience would be.