Liberty University Criminal Justice (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Criminal Justice and Corrections
- Private nonprofit university
- Lynchburg, VA
- About 572 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Liberty University criminal justice graduates earn more than graduates of most criminal justice programs nationally, $48,855 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $29,728 in federal loans, more than at 84% of criminal justice programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying criminal justice degrees in Virginia.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Virginia and national columns are the medians across all criminal justice bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Liberty University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $3,501 more than the Virginia median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Virginia criminal justice program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Virginia 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 19% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $3,894 less in their first year than other graduates. They also borrowed more. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $315 a month, or 7.7% 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. Separately, 95 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $24,864.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
33% of graduates (201 of 609) were working in Virginia one year after graduating. Prices in the Lynchburg area are about 11% below the national average, so a $48,855 salary here buys what about $54,670 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 criminal justice, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Security Guards
$43,640Median pay in Virginia. 34,870 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 156,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
$65,870Median pay in Virginia. 19,970 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 51,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Compliance Officers
$80,380Median pay in Virginia. 15,190 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Child, Family, and School Social Workers
$61,330Median pay in Virginia. 9,410 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 33,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Liberty University
Criminal Justice ranks 10th of 45 bachelor's programs at Liberty University by first-year earnings. The top three are Electrical Engineering ($76,127), Nursing ($71,918), and Military Systems Technology ($66,126).
Other criminal justice bachelor's programs near Lynchburg
Common questions
The median graduate earns $48,855 one year after graduating and $58,274 five years after. The median across criminal justice bachelor's programs in Virginia is $39,404.
The median federal loan balance is $29,728, which ranks 13th lowest of 15 criminal justice bachelor's programs in Virginia. That works out to about $315 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 61% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 67%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 2% or less.
Many leave. 33% (201 of 609) were working in Virginia 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 Virginia 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 criminal justice 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