Missouri State Psychology (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Psychology, General
- Public university
- Springfield, MO
- About 280 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Missouri State psychology graduates earn about what psychology graduates earn nationally, $29,487 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $25,739 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,624. Several Missouri programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Missouri and national columns are the medians across all psychology bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Missouri State graduates earn less than the national figure and about $1,353 less than the Missouri median. Several Missouri programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Missouri psychology program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Missouri 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 46% 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 more in their first year than other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $27,000 against $22,500.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $273 a month, or 11.1% 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, 66 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $11,491.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
84% of graduates (205 of 244) were working in Missouri one year after graduating. Prices in the Springfield area are about 11% below the national average, so a $29,487 salary here buys what about $33,287 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 psychology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
$99,410Median pay in Missouri. 840 people work in this job in Missouri. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 12% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: doctoral or professional degree.
Social Science Research Assistants
$65,940Median pay in Missouri. 750 people work in this job in Missouri. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Industrial-Organizational Psychologists
$193,950Median pay nationwide. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 300 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Missouri State
Psychology ranks 43rd of 52 bachelor's programs at Missouri State by first-year earnings. The top three are Construction Management ($73,731), Nursing ($66,183), and Computer Science ($64,949).
Other psychology bachelor's programs near Springfield
Common questions
The median graduate earns $29,487 one year after graduating and $43,088 five years after. The median across psychology bachelor's programs in Missouri is $31,663.
The median federal loan balance is $25,739, which ranks 13th lowest of 22 psychology bachelor's programs in Missouri. That works out to about $273 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 87% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 78%. Compare the cost with other Missouri programs before deciding.
Most do. 84% (205 of 244) were working in Missouri 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 Missouri 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 psychology 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