Murray State Finance (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Finance and Financial Management Services
- Public university
- Murray, KY
- About 59 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Murray State finance graduates earn less than graduates of most finance programs nationally, $43,320 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $21,500 in federal loans, close to the national median of $23,250. Several Kentucky programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Kentucky and national columns are the medians across all finance bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Murray State graduates earn less than the national figure and about $11,167 less than the Kentucky median. Several Kentucky programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Kentucky finance program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Kentucky 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 32% 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 $228 a month, or 6.3% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
50% of graduates (19 of 38) were working in Kentucky one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Kentucky outside metro areas are about 15% below the national average, so a $43,320 salary here buys what about $50,814 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
$79,370Median pay in Kentucky. 52,100 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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
$130,650Median pay in Kentucky. 6,630 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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
$59,110Median pay in Kentucky. 5,340 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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
$81,660Median pay in Kentucky. 2,460 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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 Murray State
Finance ranks 10th of 31 bachelor's programs at Murray State by first-year earnings. The top three are Electromechanical Technology ($79,974), Nursing ($68,608), and Quality Control and Safety Technology ($66,418).
Other finance bachelor's programs near Murray
Common questions
The median graduate earns $43,320 one year after graduating and $56,973 five years after. The median across finance bachelor's programs in Kentucky is $44,355.
The median federal loan balance is $21,500, which ranks 3rd lowest of 6 finance bachelor's programs in Kentucky. That works out to about $228 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 50% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 44%. Compare the cost with other Kentucky programs before deciding.
Most do. 50% (19 of 38) were working in Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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