Is Nebraska Wesleyan University Worth It?

Nebraska Wesleyan gives you a moderate financial return. Median earnings of $56,405 ten years out sit comfortably above the roughly $27,000 debt you'd carry, and a 68.9% graduation rate means most of you finish. The math works, but it depends heavily on what you study.

Nursing is the clear winner here. You come out earning around $67,000 while carrying the lowest debt of any listed program at under $21,000, which is the best cost-to-payoff ratio on campus. Accounting follows at roughly $57,000. Both feed directly into Lincoln and Omaha's steady healthcare and financial-services employers, so the regional job market backs them up.

The other end is harder. Teacher education leaves you with about $40,000 in earnings against $27,000 in debt, and social work lands near $34,500. Those are the highest debt-to-income squeezes at this school. If you're set on teaching or social work, you can still make it work in Nebraska's lower-cost cities, but you have almost no margin for error on borrowing.

The specific risk is the 74.6% retention rate. Roughly one in four of you won't return after freshman year, and leaving with debt but no degree is the worst outcome this school can produce.

The net price tiers reward lower incomes. If your family earns under $48,000, you pay under $19,000 a year, well below the sticker figure. Above $110,000, you pay closer to $27,700 with no such break.

Choose Nebraska Wesleyan if you're heading into nursing, accounting, or business and plan to work in the region. Look elsewhere, or borrow very little, if your goal is teaching or social work, since the earnings won't stretch far against the debt.