Is Loras College Worth It?

Loras College gives you a solid but unspectacular financial return. You pay about $21,000 a year net, borrow a median of $26,000, and land around $58,000 a decade after enrolling. That earnings figure sits comfortably above the debt load, so most graduates aren't drowning. The 82.87% retention rate and near-70% graduation rate matter here: you're likely to actually finish and start earning, which is where the real financial risk lives at schools that lose half their freshmen.

The program picture is more mixed than the school-wide number suggests. Accounting is the clear winner at roughly $51,600, and it pairs well with Dubuque's business economy. But the other listed bachelor's programs come in lower. Marketing graduates earn about $43,200 while carrying $27,000 in debt, and business administration graduates earn under $41,000 against $26,500 in debt. Those debt-to-earnings ratios are tight enough that you should think hard before borrowing the full median. English and Romance languages land in the same $37,000-$40,000 range, so if you major in those, you'll need a plan beyond the degree itself.

The net price tiers reward lower-income families. If your family makes under $30,000, you pay about $18,600. in the $30-48k band you pay under $15,000, the best deal on campus. Above $110,000, you pay about $23,300 with little discounting, so the sticker shock is real at the top.

Loras fits you if you're aiming at accounting or business, plan to graduate in four years, and come from a family under $75,000 where the aid works in your favor. If you're set on English or languages and would borrow the full $26,000 to do it, run the math carefully or look elsewhere.