Linguistic, Comparative, at Western Illinois University

Western Illinois University's linguistics program produces surprisingly strong early earnings despite having one of the lowest debt burdens in the country. At $37,155, graduates earn more than their counterparts at prestigious University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, ranking in the 95th percentile nationally and 80th percentile within Illinois. Combined with below-average debt of $29,875 (5th percentile nationally), the 0.80 debt-to-earnings ratio suggests graduates can manage their loans on a single year's salary—a solid position for a humanities degree.

The caveat here matters: this data reflects fewer than 30 graduates, so these results may not hold consistently year to year. Individual outcomes could vary significantly in such a small cohort. That said, the pattern is encouraging—this isn't a program saddling students with heavy debt while delivering weak job prospects. The relatively accessible admission rate (75%) and modest Pell Grant population (28%) suggest this isn't filtering for only the most advantaged students, making the earnings outcomes more impressive.

For families considering Western Illinois, this program appears to offer better value than typical linguistics degrees, which nationally average just $27,449 in first-year earnings. Just understand you're looking at a snapshot from a small group, not a guarantee of what your child will earn.