Which Kansas criminal justice program has the lowest debt?

Washburn University reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,822, with first-year pay of $40,052.

How much do criminal justice graduates earn in Kansas?

The median across 8 Kansas criminal justice bachelor's programs is $39,077 in the first year after graduating and $48,675 five years after.

How many criminal justice bachelor's programs are in Kansas?

8 Kansas programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 6 of them also report federal debt.

Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) Programs in Kansas, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

8 programs report first-year pay
6 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Criminal Justice and Corrections

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Kansas criminal justice bachelor's program pays its graduates $39,077 in their first year, $1,436 more than the national median. Southwestern College (Kansas) reports the highest first-year pay ($60,820), and Washburn University the lowest median debt ($20,822).

Median first-year pay$39,077National $37,641

Median pay after 5 years$48,675National $53,142

Median federal debt$24,843National $26,000

Debt-to-earnings65%National 67%

All 8 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	$60,820	$61,894	Not reported	Not reported
2	Central Christian College of KansasMcPherson · private nonprofit	$55,453	$63,702	$36,076	65%
3	Fort Hays StateHays · public	$42,428	$48,305	$28,750	68%
4	Washburn UniversityTopeka · public	$40,052	$49,044	$20,822	52%
5	Wichita StateWichita · public	$38,102	$45,068	$27,000	71%
6	Kansas Wesleyan UniversitySalina · private nonprofit	$37,301	Not reported	$24,330	65%
7	Emporia StateEmporia · public	$35,970	$48,076	$23,480	65%
8	Friends UniversityWichita · private nonprofit	$34,522	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported

Southwestern College (Kansas) and Friends University report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Kansas criminal justice 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 6 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Southwestern College (Kansas)$60,820
Central Christian College of Kansas$55,453
Fort Hays State$42,428
Washburn University$40,052
Wichita State$38,102

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 criminal justice, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Security Guards

$37,080

Median pay in Kansas. 7,150 people work in this job in Kansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 156,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $29,590Top 10%: $51,890

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

$59,230

Median pay in Kansas. 6,130 people work in this job in Kansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 51,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $42,040Top 10%: $90,530

Compliance Officers

$69,740

Median pay in Kansas. 3,560 people work in this job in Kansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $42,620Top 10%: $121,370

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$54,300

Median pay in Kansas. 3,190 people work in this job in Kansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 33,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $43,690Top 10%: $69,970

Common questions

Southwestern College (Kansas) in Winfield reports the highest median first-year pay, $60,820.

Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked557 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 criminal justice 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