UW-Milwaukee Liberal Arts and General Studies (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities
- Public university
- Milwaukee, WI
- About 154 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
UW-Milwaukee liberal arts and general studies graduates earn about what liberal arts and general studies graduates earn nationally, $30,144 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $10,700 in federal loans, close to the national median of $10,864. Two other Wisconsin programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Wisconsin and national columns are the medians across all liberal arts and general studies associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, UW-Milwaukee graduates earn more than the national figure and about $2,203 more than the Wisconsin median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Wisconsin liberal arts and general studies program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Wisconsin 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 56% 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 $1,770 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $113 a month, or 4.5% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
25 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $10,000.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
93% of graduates (52 of 56) were working in Wisconsin one year after graduating. Prices in the Milwaukee area are about 3% below the national average, so a $30,144 salary here buys what about $31,096 buys in a typical US city.
About UW-Milwaukee
Liberal Arts and General Studies is the only associate's program at UW-Milwaukee that reports first-year earnings.
Other liberal arts and general studies associate's programs near Milwaukee
Common questions
The median graduate earns $30,144 one year after graduating and $47,037 five years after. The median across liberal arts and general studies associate's programs in Wisconsin is $29,812.
The median federal loan balance is $10,700, which ranks the lowest of 7 liberal arts and general studies associate's programs in Wisconsin. That works out to about $113 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 35% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 38%.
Most do. 93% (52 of 56) were working in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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