Research and Experimental Psychology at University of Washington-Seattle Campus

A University of Washington research psychology degree delivers exactly what you'd expect: middling first-year earnings of $34,715 paired with manageable debt. The real story here is the debt advantage—at $15,754, UW graduates carry roughly $6,000 less than the national median for this major, landing them in the 88th percentile for low debt. That 0.45 debt-to-earnings ratio means graduates could theoretically pay off their loans in less than six months of gross income, which is genuinely favorable.

The earnings picture is more ambiguous. While UW sits at the 60th percentile among Washington psychology programs (outperforming Eastern Washington by about $1,200 annually), that $34,715 starting salary is essentially average for this field nationally. This isn't a program that will catapult your child into high earnings—research psychology rarely does at the bachelor's level—but the combination of UW's reputation and lower debt load makes it a safer bet than most alternatives.

For families banking on psychology as a stepping stone to graduate school, this works: your child graduates from a respected research university without crushing debt hanging over future degree plans. If they're expecting the bachelor's degree alone to launch a lucrative career, that's the wrong expectation for this field anywhere, not just at UW.