Minnesota State Mankato Business Administration (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Business Administration, Management and Operations
- Public university
- Mankato, MN
- About 174 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Minnesota State Mankato business administration graduates earn about what business administration graduates earn nationally, $49,640 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $22,350 in federal loans, less than at 75% of business administration programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying business administration degrees in Minnesota.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Minnesota and national columns are the medians across all business administration bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Minnesota State Mankato graduates earn about the national figure but about $5,059 less than the Minnesota median. Several Minnesota programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Minnesota business administration program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Minnesota 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 30% 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 about the same in their first year as other graduates. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $237 a month, or 5.7% 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, 27 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $18,038.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
85% of graduates (131 of 155) were working in Minnesota one year after graduating. Prices in the Mankato area are about 9% below the national average, so a $49,640 salary here buys what about $54,576 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 business administration, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
General and Operations Managers
$99,340Median pay in Minnesota. 72,860 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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.
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
$76,440Median pay in Minnesota. 21,690 people work in this job in Minnesota. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 127,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
$48,770Median pay in Minnesota. 21,530 people work in this job in Minnesota. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 113,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Project Management Specialists
$97,860Median pay in Minnesota. 18,850 people work in this job in Minnesota. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 76,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Minnesota State Mankato
Business Administration ranks 13th of 36 bachelor's programs at Minnesota State Mankato by first-year earnings. The top three are Construction Management ($75,682), Nursing ($75,655), and Computer and Information Science ($71,742).
Other business administration bachelor's programs near Mankato
Common questions
The median graduate earns $49,640 one year after graduating and $64,547 five years after. The median across business administration bachelor's programs in Minnesota is $52,847.
The median federal loan balance is $22,350, which ranks 3rd lowest of 27 business administration bachelor's programs in Minnesota. That works out to about $237 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 45% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 55%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Minnesota programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 85% (131 of 155) were working in Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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 business administration 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