Biology at William Penn University

William Penn's biology program beats national benchmarks while keeping debt unusually low, but the small sample size means these results might not be typical. At $36,449 first-year earnings, graduates earn more than 76% of biology programs nationally and land above Iowa's state median of $34,398. That's solid performance for a regional university where nearly half the students are Pell-eligible, though graduates still trail the state's top programs by $5,000-7,000.

The real strength here is debt management: $27,000 puts this program in the 5th percentile nationally for debt, meaning 95% of biology programs leave students with more loans. The 0.74 debt-to-earnings ratio suggests graduates can realistically manage repayment on a typical biology salary. For context, many biology programs saddle students with $35,000+ in debt for similar or lower earnings.

The caveat matters, though—with fewer than 30 recent graduates tracked, one unusually successful cohort could skew these numbers upward. If your child thrives in smaller campus environments and needs to minimize debt, this looks promising. But if they're dead-set on biology for pre-med or research careers, the higher-earning Iowa programs might justify their likely higher price tags. For students who need affordability and reasonable outcomes, this represents a workable path into the life sciences.