Public Health at University of California-Merced

UC Merced's Public Health program achieves something noteworthy that matters to anxious parents: graduates leave with barely any debt. At $15,502, the median debt burden sits in the 95th percentile nationally—meaning 95% of public health programs nationwide saddle students with MORE debt. For a UC campus serving primarily middle- and lower-income families (59% receive Pell grants), this financial accessibility is a genuine strength.

The tradeoff comes in earnings. First-year graduates earn $36,555, which lands around the 40th percentile both nationally and statewide. That's roughly $2,500 below California's median for public health majors and nearly $12,000 less than what UC Berkeley grads earn in the same field. However, the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.42 means graduates could theoretically pay off their loans with less than half of their first year's salary—a manageable starting position that many programs can't match.

For families prioritizing minimized debt over maximum starting salary, this represents sound value. Your child won't graduate at the top of the earnings ladder, but they also won't spend years digging out from under loan payments. The question is whether the $12,000 earnings gap compared to top California programs will persist long-term or narrow as graduates gain experience—something worth investigating through alumni networks or LinkedIn research.