Penn State Business (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Business/Commerce, General
- Public university
- University Park, PA
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Penn State business graduates earn more than graduates of most business programs nationally, $44,626 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $19,500 in federal loans, close to the national median of $11,856. It is one of the higher-paying business degrees in Pennsylvania.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Pennsylvania and national columns are the medians across all business associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Penn State graduates earn more than the national figure and about $10,090 more than the Pennsylvania median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Pennsylvania business program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Pennsylvania 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 20% 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, but borrowed more: a median of $22,280 against $15,520.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $207 a month, or 5.6% 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, 24 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $12,500.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
72% of graduates (68 of 95) were working in Pennsylvania one year after graduating. Prices in the State College area are about 3% below the national average, so a $44,626 salary here buys what about $46,119 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, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
General and Operations Managers
$103,130Median pay in Pennsylvania. 172,010 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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.
Project Management Specialists
$100,150Median pay in Pennsylvania. 36,150 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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.
Management Analysts
$93,830Median pay in Pennsylvania. 34,420 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 94,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Sales Managers
$130,610Median pay in Pennsylvania. 20,460 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
About Penn State
Business ranks 6th of 9 associate's programs at Penn State by first-year earnings. The top three are Electrical Engineering Technology ($61,945), Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($58,317), and Information Science ($51,734).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $44,626 one year after graduating and $53,721 five years after. The median across business associate's programs in Pennsylvania is $36,274.
The median federal loan balance is $19,500, which ranks 8th lowest of 9 business associate's programs in Pennsylvania. That works out to about $207 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 44% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 35%. Compare the cost with other Pennsylvania programs before deciding.
Most do. 72% (68 of 95) were working in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 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