Is MidAmerica Nazarene University Worth It?

MidAmerica Nazarene gives you a mixed financial picture that leans favorable on debt but questionable on completion. Median debt of $15,000 is low, and median earnings ten years out clear $60,000, so if you graduate, you likely pay the loans off without strain. The problem is graduating at all: fewer than half of students finish, and barely six in ten come back for a second year. That completion risk is the single biggest threat to your return here.

Nursing is the clear payoff. It carries the highest earnings of any program listed and the lowest debt at $12,500, a rare combination where the degree that pays best also costs least to finance. Business administration lands in the middle, but you borrow more to get there. Education is where the math turns against you. Both teaching tracks pay in the high $30,000s, and one of them saddles you with $25,000 in debt to earn it. If you want to teach, know that going in. Psychology is the weakest outcome on the page, and a bachelor's alone at roughly $29,000 barely covers a single year's net price.

The net price tiers reward lower-income families in a way many private schools don't reverse: you pay less earning under $48,000 than families above $110,000, who face over $34,000 a year. Even so, the sticker after aid is real money at every income level.

This school fits you if you're set on nursing and confident you'll finish. It fits less well if you're leaning toward psychology or education, where the earnings don't justify borrowing much, or if you're unsure about staying enrolled. Given the retention numbers, that uncertainty carries a cost.