Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Lindenwood University

Saint Charles, MO · Private nonprofit · Bachelor-granting · 4,624 undergrads · 57% admitted

Do students finish?
49% complete

A large share of students do not finish; the cost is the same whether or not you graduate.

What does it cost?
$35,436/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$141,744 over four years if you finish on time.

What former students go on to earn

The middle 50% of students who received federal aid, measured 10 years after they entered (an earlier entering class — not a guarantee, and not limited to those who graduated). Earnings vary enormously by field of study.

$53,278 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $35,718 median $53,278 75th pct $77,533

74% earn more than a typical high-school graduate (the dashed line above, $28,000 — a fixed, somewhat dated federal benchmark) ten years on.

Your major matters more than your school

The school-wide figure above blends every major together — but pay varies enormously by program. Pick a degree level (and search your major) to compare like-for-like.

Read these on their own terms. Program pay is measured 1 year after completing the program (early career, graduates only) — not the same as the school-wide number above, which is 10 years after a student first enrolled. Don't compare a program figure to the school figure; use the programs to compare majors to each other.

23 Bachelor's programs · $24,620 to $63,962 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management.Bachelor's $63,962 $23,842
Computer Systems Analysis.Bachelor's $61,260
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $59,223 $23,343
Business/Commerce, General.Bachelor's $44,686 $26,650
Chemistry.Bachelor's $43,063
Human Resources Management and Services.Bachelor's $43,054 $29,630
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $41,826 $23,000
Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $41,170 $23,250
Health and Medical Administrative Services.Bachelor's $40,599 $29,250
Criminology.Bachelor's $38,594
Marketing.Bachelor's $37,899 $26,427
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $34,309 $24,492
Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $33,954 $27,000
History.Bachelor's $33,727
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $33,261 $25,250
Computer Software and Media Applications.Bachelor's $28,997 $23,804
Social Work.Bachelor's $27,885 $25,250
Biology, General.Bachelor's $27,790 $27,000
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $27,629 $27,000
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $27,624 $23,718
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $27,257 $27,000
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $26,538 $25,000
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $24,620

The Dept. of Education omits programs with too few graduates (to protect privacy), so not every major appears. Pay is a median for federally-aided graduates. Full program detail on the official Scorecard.

Typical federal loan debt
$20,500
39% of one year's typical earnings here

This counts federal student loans only — not private loans, Parent PLUS loans, or family savings, so the true cost of borrowing is usually higher. And because students who drop out borrow less, a school where many students don't finish can show a deceptively low debt figure — read it next to the completion rate above.

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is an institution-wide median from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn or owe — a computer-science and a fine-arts graduate of the same school can earn wildly different amounts, and your field of study matters more than your school. It is not a figure for any one program, not proof the school caused the outcome (selective schools admit students who would earn more anyway), and not a "best college" ranking. Earnings and debt cover federally-aided students.

→ The number that actually answers "worth it" is earnings by major — see the by-major breakdown above (39 programs at this school).

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (2026-06-10 release). · school website