Is Wright State University-Lake Campus Worth It?

Wright State University-Lake Campus gives you a low-cost degree with modest but real payoff, as long as you pick the right major. At roughly $12,600 a year with median debt near $22,750, the price stays low enough that most graduates can pay it back on a $49,500 median salary. The problem is finishing: only 42.5% graduate and about a third of students don't return after year one, so the debt without a degree is the biggest financial risk here.

Your major decides everything. Mechanical engineering graduates out-earn criminology graduates by more than $30,000 a year while carrying less debt, making it the clear best bet on this campus. Nursing is the other strong path, clearing $58,000. Both are tied to regional employers in the Celina and western Ohio manufacturing and healthcare markets, where these skills sell. The business degrees land around $40,000, which covers the debt but leaves little cushion. Criminology is the weak spot: it produces the lowest earnings and the highest debt of any listed program, an outcome that barely justifies borrowing.

The net price tiers reward lower-income families. If your household earns under $48,000, you pay under $9,800 a year. Above $75,000, your price jumps to roughly $15,000 and the discount largely disappears, so the value case weakens as income rises.

This campus fits you if you plan to study engineering or nursing, want to keep costs and debt low, and will actually finish. It's a poor fit if you're drawn to the lower-earning majors, are unsure you'll graduate, or come from a higher-income family paying near full sticker for a degree that pays a mid-range salary. Commit to a high-return major and completion, or the low price won't save you.