Which Alabama business administration program has the lowest debt?

University of North Alabama reports the lowest median federal debt, $22,034, with first-year pay of $35,057.

How much do business administration graduates earn in Alabama?

The median across 18 Alabama business administration bachelor's programs is $40,107 in the first year after graduating and $56,052 five years after.

How many business administration bachelor's programs are in Alabama?

18 Alabama programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 18 of them also report federal debt.

Business Administration (Bachelor's) Programs in Alabama, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

18 programs report first-year pay
18 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Business Administration, Management and Operations

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Alabama business administration bachelor's program pays its graduates $40,107 in their first year, $5,289 less than the national median. Columbia Southern University reports the highest first-year pay ($58,468), and University of North Alabama the lowest median debt ($22,034).

Median first-year pay$40,107National $45,396

Median pay after 5 years$56,052National $62,714

Median federal debt$28,907National $26,000

Debt-to-earnings63%National 55%

All 18 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Columbia Southern UniversityOrange Beach · private for-profit	$58,468	$63,635	$31,284	54%
2	Auburn UniversityAuburn · public	$56,948	$76,513	$22,250	39%
3	Athens StateAthens · public	$49,436	$61,403	$28,250	57%
4	University of AlabamaTuscaloosa · public	$48,668	$69,113	$25,000	51%
5	Tuskegee UniversityTuskegee · private nonprofit	$46,123	$67,573	$29,563	64%
6	UABBirmingham · public	$45,761	$62,800	$26,625	58%
7	Troy UniversityTroy · public	$45,260	$60,066	$27,000	60%
8	University of South AlabamaMobile · public	$44,348	$54,316	$26,000	59%
9	Alabama A&M UniversityNormal · public	$40,183	$54,650	$33,250	83%
10	Huntingdon CollegeMontgomery · private nonprofit	$40,031	$57,454	$30,959	77%
11	Jacksonville StateJacksonville · public	$39,729	$49,340	$25,000	63%
12	University of Alabama in HuntsvilleHuntsville · public	$39,476	$68,307	$22,447	57%
13	Faulkner UniversityMontgomery · private nonprofit	$36,990	$52,681	$35,465	96%
14	University of West AlabamaLivingston · public	$36,920	Not reported	$34,250	93%
15	University of MobileMobile · private nonprofit	$35,819	$48,916	$43,141	120%
16	University of North AlabamaFlorence · public	$35,057	$46,213	$22,034	63%
17	Alabama StateMontgomery · public	$28,447	Not reported	$32,125	113%
18	Talladega CollegeTalladega · private nonprofit	$27,568	$35,880	$31,125	113%

2 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Alabama business administration program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Alabama medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 18 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

University of North Alabama$22,034
Auburn University$22,250
University of Alabama in Huntsville$22,447
University of Alabama$25,000
Jacksonville State$25,000

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to business administration, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

General and Operations Managers

$111,790

Median pay in Alabama. 30,170 people work in this job in Alabama. 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.

Bottom 10%: $55,160Top 10%: $243,600

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

$60,360

Median pay in Alabama. 20,140 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 127,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $39,470Top 10%: $93,560

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

$44,860

Median pay in Alabama. 25,020 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 113,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $27,960Top 10%: $75,330

Project Management Specialists

$100,820

Median pay in Alabama. 3,190 people work in this job in Alabama. 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.

Bottom 10%: $63,550Top 10%: $164,910

Common questions

Columbia Southern University in Orange Beach reports the highest median first-year pay, $58,468. Its median federal debt is $31,284.

Business Administration (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked1,105 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 Alabama rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the business administration bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024