Willamette University Psychology (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Psychology, General
- Private nonprofit university
- Salem, OR
- About 24 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Willamette University psychology graduates earn about what psychology graduates earn nationally, $29,678 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $24,547 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,624. Several Oregon programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Oregon and national columns are the medians across all psychology bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Willamette University graduates earn less than the national figure and about $3,127 less than the Oregon median. Several Oregon programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Oregon psychology program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Oregon 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 57% 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 10.5% 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 Salem area are about 4% above the national average, so a $29,678 salary here buys what about $28,633 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 psychology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
$134,350Median pay in Oregon. 540 people work in this job in Oregon. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 12% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: doctoral or professional degree.
Social Science Research Assistants
$56,770Median pay in Oregon. 220 people work in this job in Oregon. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Industrial-Organizational Psychologists
$174,980Median pay in Oregon. 60 people work in this job in Oregon. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 300 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Willamette University
Psychology ranks 6th of 11 bachelor's programs at Willamette University by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($80,077), Economics ($45,993), and Political Science ($35,162).
Other psychology bachelor's programs near Salem
Common questions
The median graduate earns $29,678 one year after graduating and $46,601 five years after. The median across psychology bachelor's programs in Oregon is $32,422.
The median federal loan balance is $24,547, which ranks 8th lowest of 14 psychology bachelor's programs in Oregon. That works out to about $260 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 83% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 78%. Compare the cost with other Oregon programs before deciding.
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 Oregon 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 psychology 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