Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions at William Jewell College

Based on comparable programs nationally, this bachelor's degree in clinical laboratory science appears to position graduates for solid starting salaries around $65,000—substantially higher than the $40,000 median for Missouri programs in this field. That geographic gap is striking and worth understanding: are William Jewell graduates leaving Missouri for stronger markets, or does this national benchmark reflect a different mix of specializations than what most Missouri schools produce? The estimated debt load of about $25,000 translates to a manageable 0.39 debt-to-earnings ratio, well below the 1.0 threshold that typically signals financial stress.

The caveat is that both figures are estimates drawn from peer institutions because this program graduates too few students for the Department of Education to publish its actual outcomes. That means you're betting on William Jewell replicating what similar private colleges achieve nationally, rather than seeing verified results from this specific program. Clinical laboratory science is generally a stable healthcare field with steady demand, but the wide variation between Missouri schools—and the fact that only one other Missouri program has reportable data—suggests outcomes can vary significantly by institution and graduate choices.

If your child is committed to laboratory medicine and the college's fit feels right on other dimensions, the financial fundamentals look reasonable based on what peer programs achieve. Just recognize you're working with less certainty than you'd have at programs with published outcomes.