Economics at University of San Francisco

USF's economics program places graduates slightly above the national median at $58,046, but the real concern is the $21,500 debt load—that's 28% higher than California's typical economics graduate carries. Among California's 55 economics programs, this lands in the 60th percentile for earnings, which sounds respectable until you consider that nearby schools like Santa Clara ($76,606) and UC Berkeley ($80,446) substantially outperform it while often charging less for in-state students.

The 0.37 debt-to-earnings ratio isn't disastrous—graduates earn more than double their debt in their first year—but there's a squeeze happening here. California economics majors typically graduate with just $16,805 in debt, meaning USF students are borrowing nearly $5,000 more for outcomes that barely clear the state median. Given San Francisco's notoriously high cost of living, that extra debt matters more than it would elsewhere.

The critical caveat: this data comes from fewer than 30 graduates, so individual circumstances could swing these numbers significantly. If your child is comparing this to a UC school or CSU where they'd pay substantially less, the math gets harder to justify. USF might make sense for students who need the smaller class sizes of a private school and can't access the elite privates (Stanford, CMC) that command Bay Area salaries, but they should understand they're paying a premium without getting premium outcomes.