Which Alabama liberal arts and general studies program has the lowest debt?

Lurleen B Wallace Community College reports the lowest median federal debt, $5,500, with first-year pay of $24,295.

How much do liberal arts and general studies graduates earn in Alabama?

The median across 22 Alabama liberal arts and general studies associate's programs is $24,375 in the first year after graduating and $39,225 five years after.

Liberal Arts and General Studies (Associate's) Programs in Alabama, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Q: How many liberal arts and general studies associate's programs are in Alabama?

22 Alabama programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 21 of them also report federal debt.

22 programs report first-year pay
21 also report federal debt
Associate's in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Alabama liberal arts and general studies associate's program pays its graduates $24,375 in their first year, $2,764 less than the national median. Columbia Southern University reports the highest first-year pay ($55,667), and Lurleen B Wallace Community College the lowest median debt ($5,500).

Median first-year pay$24,375National $27,139

Median pay after 5 years$39,225National $40,284

Median federal debt$9,886National $10,864

Debt-to-earnings39%National 38%

All 22 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	$55,667	$66,199	$15,923	29%
2	Troy UniversityTroy · public	$37,838	$42,779	$27,504	73%
3	Chattahoochee Valley Community CollegePhenix City · public	$28,470	$35,374	$11,149	39%
4	Jefferson State Community CollegeBirmingham · public	$28,176	$40,346	$11,000	39%
5	Lawson State Community CollegeBirmingham · public	$26,759	$37,298	$7,500	28%
6	Southern Union State Community CollegeWadley · public	$26,174	$36,998	$9,860	38%
7	George C Wallace Community College-DothanDothan · public	$26,004	$38,279	Not reported	Not reported
8	Marion Military InstituteMarion · public	$25,501	$45,315	$12,000	47%
9	Bevill State Community CollegeJasper · public	$25,063	$39,108	$7,750	31%
10	Central Alabama Community CollegeAlexander City · public	$24,698	$42,233	$9,911	40%
11	John C Calhoun State Community CollegeTanner · public	$24,455	$41,635	$11,236	46%
12	Lurleen B Wallace Community CollegeAndalusia · public	$24,295	$35,499	$5,500	23%
13	Northeast Alabama Community CollegeRainsville · public	$24,228	$38,656	$7,987	33%
14	Shelton State Community CollegeTuscaloosa · public	$23,390	$39,342	$7,375	32%
15	Enterprise State Community CollegeEnterprise · public	$22,991	Not reported	$7,875	34%
16	Bishop State Community CollegeMobile · public	$22,764	$36,560	$8,355	37%
17	Snead State Community CollegeBoaz · public	$22,559	$39,859	$9,597	43%
18	Coastal Alabama Community CollegeBay Minette · public	$22,329	$39,646	$11,000	49%
19	George C Wallace State Community College-HancevilleHanceville · public	$21,919	$40,103	$12,175	56%
20	Northwest Shoals Community CollegeMuscle Shoals · public	$20,414	Not reported	$10,000	49%
21	Gadsden State Community CollegeGadsden · public	$18,926	$37,390	$7,774	41%
22	George C Wallace State Community College-SelmaSelma · public	$18,355	$29,722	$8,750	48%

George C Wallace Community College-Dothan reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Alabama liberal arts and general studies 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 21 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Columbia Southern University$55,667
Troy University$37,838
Chattahoochee Valley Community College$28,470
Jefferson State Community College$28,176
Lawson State Community College$26,759

Lowest median debt

Lurleen B Wallace Community College$5,500
Shelton State Community College$7,375
Lawson State Community College$7,500
Bevill State Community College$7,750
Gadsden State Community College$7,774

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.

Common questions

Columbia Southern University in Orange Beach reports the highest median first-year pay, $55,667. Its median federal debt is $15,923.

Liberal Arts and General Studies (Associate's) programs in the US, ranked728 programs by pay and debt Liberal Arts and General Studies (Bachelor's) programs in Alabama, ranked5 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 liberal arts and general studies associate'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