Economics at University of the Ozarks

Economics degrees from smaller Arkansas institutions suggest a trickier calculation than you might expect. Based on comparable programs nationally, University of the Ozarks economics graduates likely earn around $52,000 in their first year—meaningfully above the $41,000 that similar programs in Arkansas typically produce. That $10,000 gap matters when you're paying down an estimated $24,000 in student debt, giving this program a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.47.

The challenge is that we're working with national estimates here because the school's graduate cohort is too small for the Department of Education to publish actual outcomes. When you look at Arkansas programs with reported data—like University of Central Arkansas at $42,000 or Hendrix College at $40,000—they cluster well below the national figure being used as our proxy. That suggests the $52,000 estimate might be optimistic for what University of the Ozarks graduates actually achieve in the Arkansas job market.

The debt load itself seems manageable at first glance—peer programs nationally carry similar amounts. But if first-year earnings land closer to the Arkansas norm of $41,000 rather than the national estimate, that changes the picture substantially. You're essentially betting that this particular program defies the state pattern. Given the school's profile (58% admission rate, modest test scores), there's real risk that outcomes track closer to other Arkansas institutions than to the national benchmark being applied here.