Ohio University Zoology (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Zoology/Animal Biology
- Public university
- Athens, OH
- About 146 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Ohio University zoology graduates earn about what zoology graduates earn nationally, $29,303 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $25,210 in federal loans, more than at 76% of zoology programs in the country. Two other Ohio programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Ohio and national columns are the medians across all zoology bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Ohio University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $6,040 more than the Ohio median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio zoology program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Ohio 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 88% 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 slightly more in their first year than 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 $267 a month, or 10.9% 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, 75 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $34,372.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
79% of graduates (132 of 167) were working in Ohio one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Ohio outside metro areas are about 12% below the national average, so a $29,303 salary here buys what about $33,181 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 zoology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Natural Sciences Managers
$137,170Median pay in Ohio. 1,560 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Biological Technicians
$51,080Median pay in Ohio. 2,240 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists
$74,550Median pay in Ohio. 220 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Ohio University
Zoology ranks 45th of 53 bachelor's programs at Ohio University by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($75,809), Computer Science ($73,932), and Industrial Engineering ($70,199).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $29,303 one year after graduating and $54,995 five years after. The median across zoology bachelor's programs in Ohio is $29,303.
The median federal loan balance is $25,210, which ranks 4th lowest of 5 zoology bachelor's programs in Ohio. That works out to about $267 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 86% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 87%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less.
Most do. 79% (132 of 167) were working in Ohio 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 Ohio 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 zoology 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