Harding University Finance (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Finance and Financial Management Services
- Private nonprofit university
- Searcy, AR
- About 23 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Harding University finance graduates earn about what finance graduates earn nationally, $53,876 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $27,250 in federal loans, more than at 93% of finance programs in the country. Two other Arkansas programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Arkansas and national columns are the medians across all finance bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Harding University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $25,509 more than the Arkansas median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Arkansas finance program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Arkansas medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 66% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $289 a month, or 6.4% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
64% of graduates (16 of 25) were working in Arkansas one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Arkansas outside metro areas are about 17% below the national average, so a $53,876 salary here buys what about $64,948 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to finance, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
General and Operations Managers
$74,050Median pay in Arkansas. 34,570 people work in this job in Arkansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 285,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Financial Managers
$116,570Median pay in Arkansas. 7,120 people work in this job in Arkansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 65,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents
$54,660Median pay in Arkansas. 2,330 people work in this job in Arkansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 35,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Financial and Investment Analysts
$81,110Median pay in Arkansas. 1,390 people work in this job in Arkansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Harding University
Finance ranks 4th of 19 bachelor's programs at Harding University by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($78,041), Nursing ($69,743), and Accounting ($58,649).
Other finance bachelor's programs near Searcy
Common questions
The median graduate earns $53,876 one year after graduating and $89,324 five years after. The median across finance bachelor's programs in Arkansas is $53,536.
The median federal loan balance is $27,250, which ranks 6th lowest of 6 finance bachelor's programs in Arkansas. That works out to about $289 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 51% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 44%. Compare the cost with other Arkansas programs before deciding.
Most do. 64% (16 of 25) were working in Arkansas one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Arkansas comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the finance program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024