Union College Liberal Arts and General Studies (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities
- Private nonprofit college
- Schenectady, NY
- About 42 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Union College liberal arts and general studies graduates earn more than graduates of most liberal arts and general studies programs nationally, $45,516 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $24,500 in federal loans, close to the national median of $27,000. It is one of the higher-paying liberal arts and general studies degrees in New York.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The New York and national columns are the medians across all liberal arts and general studies bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Union College graduates earn about the national figure and about the same as the New York median.
Debt and first-year pay at every New York liberal arts and general studies program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the New York 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 8% 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 $260 a month, or 6.9% 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.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the Albany area are about the same as the national average.
About Union College
Liberal Arts and General Studies ranks 5th of 7 bachelor's programs at Union College by first-year earnings. The top three are Mechanical Engineering ($68,407), Economics ($62,846), and Biomedical Engineering ($62,624).
Other liberal arts and general studies bachelor's programs near Schenectady
Common questions
The median graduate earns $45,516 one year after graduating and $49,183 five years after. The median across liberal arts and general studies bachelor's programs in New York is $35,817.
The median federal loan balance is $24,500, which ranks 9th lowest of 20 liberal arts and general studies bachelor's programs in New York. That works out to about $260 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 54% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 73%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several New York programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
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 New York 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 liberal arts and general studies 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