Human Development, Family Studies, at University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus

With first-year earnings of $35,234 against $25,000 in debt, UC Denver's Human Development program delivers a manageable 0.71 debt-to-earnings ratio—better than many social science degrees. The program performs slightly above the national median for similar degrees, though it trails Colorado State's comparable program by about $1,000 and sits below the Colorado median. Still, the debt load is modest, and graduates aren't facing the kind of financial burden that should derail other life plans.

The concerning caveat here is the small sample size—fewer than 30 graduates means these numbers could swing significantly year to year. A few graduates landing particularly high or low-paying jobs can skew the entire picture. This makes it harder to predict what your student's actual outcome might look like compared to programs with hundreds of graduates in the data.

For families comfortable with some uncertainty in the data, this program offers a reasonable path into human services, education support, or family-focused nonprofit work. The debt is containable even on modest social service salaries. But if you're seeking data-backed reassurance about outcomes, you might want a conversation with the department about typical job placements and whether recent grads are finding work in their field—the small cohort size means those specifics matter more than these broad averages.