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

St Charles Community College reports the lowest median federal debt, $6,500, with first-year pay of $25,968.

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

The median across 14 Missouri liberal arts and general studies associate's programs is $26,515 in the first year after graduating and $37,373 five years after.

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

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

14 Missouri programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 14 of them also report federal debt.

14 programs report first-year pay
14 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 Missouri liberal arts and general studies associate's program pays its graduates $26,515 in their first year, $625 less than the national median. Columbia College (Missouri) reports the highest first-year pay ($47,598), and St Charles Community College the lowest median debt ($6,500).

Median first-year pay$26,515National $27,139

Median pay after 5 years$37,373National $40,284

Median federal debt$9,039National $10,864

Debt-to-earnings33%National 38%

All 14 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 College (Missouri)Columbia · private nonprofit	$47,598	$51,911	$15,960	34%
2	Three Rivers CollegePoplar Bluff · public	$28,645	$32,913	$9,039	32%
3	Missouri State University-West PlainsWest Plains · public	$28,365	$30,060	$9,500	33%
4	Metropolitan Community College-Kansas CityKansas City · public	$28,092	$41,594	$7,321	26%
5	East Central CollegeUnion · public	$28,037	$37,644	$8,000	29%
6	Ozarks Technical Community CollegeSpringfield · public	$26,787	$36,903	$12,567	47%
7	Crowder CollegeNeosho · public	$26,643	$38,552	$7,752	29%
8	State Fair Community CollegeSedalia · public	$26,386	$36,437	$10,500	40%
9	Moberly Area Community CollegeMoberly · public	$26,306	$39,481	$10,993	42%
10	St Charles Community CollegeCottleville · public	$25,968	$44,730	$6,500	25%
11	Saint Louis Community CollegeBridgeton · public	$25,841	$41,960	$8,000	31%
12	Mineral Area CollegePark Hills · public	$25,462	$36,468	$8,273	32%
13	Jefferson CollegeHillsboro · public	$24,813	$43,343	$8,250	33%
14	North Central Missouri CollegeTrenton · public	$24,483	$37,102	$9,638	39%

One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Missouri liberal arts and general studies program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 14 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Columbia College (Missouri)$47,598
Three Rivers College$28,645
Missouri State University-West Plains$28,365
Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City$28,092
East Central College$28,037

Lowest median debt

St Charles Community College$6,500
Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City$7,321
Crowder College$7,752
East Central College$8,000
Saint Louis Community College$8,000

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.

Common questions

Columbia College (Missouri) in Columbia reports the highest median first-year pay, $47,598. Its median federal debt is $15,960.

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 Missouri, ranked12 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 Missouri 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