Which Kansas business administration program has the lowest debt?

Emporia State reports the lowest median federal debt, $16,938, with first-year pay of $40,528.

How much do business administration graduates earn in Kansas?

The median across 16 Kansas business administration bachelor's programs is $51,878 in the first year after graduating and $63,192 five years after.

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

16 Kansas programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 15 of them also report federal debt.

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

16 programs report first-year pay
15 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 Kansas business administration bachelor's program pays its graduates $51,878 in their first year, $6,482 more than the national median. Southwestern College (Kansas) reports the highest first-year pay ($59,951), and Emporia State the lowest median debt ($16,938).

Median first-year pay$51,878National $45,396

Median pay after 5 years$63,192National $62,714

Median federal debt$26,250National $26,000

Debt-to-earnings52%National 55%

All 16 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	Southwestern College (Kansas)Winfield · private nonprofit	$59,951	$63,197	$20,833	35%
2	Baker UniversityBaldwin City · private nonprofit	$59,145	$73,837	$41,057	69%
3	MidAmerica Nazarene UniversityOlathe · private nonprofit	$58,494	$67,246	$23,726	41%
4	University of KansasLawrence · public	$55,633	$85,307	$21,469	39%
5	Central Christian College of KansasMcPherson · private nonprofit	$54,848	Not reported	$48,554	89%
6	Friends UniversityWichita · private nonprofit	$54,090	$61,829	$33,875	63%
7	Kansas StateManhattan · public	$52,538	$67,390	$23,250	44%
8	Fort Hays StateHays · public	$52,129	$63,192	$27,000	52%
9	Ottawa University-OttawaOttawa · private nonprofit	$51,627	$56,507	$27,000	52%
10	Washburn UniversityTopeka · public	$48,589	$64,538	$22,748	47%
11	Wichita StateWichita · public	$44,884	$57,299	$24,450	54%
12	Emporia StateEmporia · public	$40,528	$63,189	$16,938	42%
13	Benedictine CollegeAtchison · private nonprofit	$39,661	$58,338	$27,000	68%
14	University of Saint MaryLeavenworth · private nonprofit	$35,344	Not reported	$26,250	74%
15	Kansas Wesleyan UniversitySalina · private nonprofit	$35,137	Not reported	$27,000	77%
16	Haskell Indian Nations UniversityLawrence · public	$25,941	$43,613	Not reported	Not reported

Haskell Indian Nations University reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 15 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Southwestern College (Kansas)$59,951
Baker University$59,145
MidAmerica Nazarene University$58,494
University of Kansas$55,633
Central Christian College of Kansas$54,848

Lowest median debt

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

$92,840

Median pay in Kansas. 24,660 people work in this job in Kansas. 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%: $51,780Top 10%: $212,700

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

$64,000

Median pay in Kansas. 12,010 people work in this job in Kansas. 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%: $45,140Top 10%: $96,270

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

$46,950

Median pay in Kansas. 9,250 people work in this job in Kansas. 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%: $31,780Top 10%: $72,040

Project Management Specialists

$100,010

Median pay in Kansas. 6,030 people work in this job in Kansas. 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%: $59,540Top 10%: $165,000

Common questions

Southwestern College (Kansas) in Winfield reports the highest median first-year pay, $59,951. Its median federal debt is $20,833.

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 Kansas 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