Which New Jersey criminal justice program has the lowest debt?

Centenary University reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,500, with first-year pay of $37,259.

How much do criminal justice graduates earn in New Jersey?

The median across 15 New Jersey criminal justice bachelor's programs is $34,611 in the first year after graduating and $58,594 five years after.

How many criminal justice bachelor's programs are in New Jersey?

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

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

15 programs report first-year pay
15 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 New Jersey criminal justice bachelor's program pays its graduates $34,611 in their first year, $3,030 less than the national median. Felician University reports the highest first-year pay ($41,141), and Centenary University the lowest median debt ($20,500).

Median first-year pay$34,611National $37,641

Median pay after 5 years$58,594National $53,142

Median federal debt$24,836National $26,000

Debt-to-earnings70%National 67%

All 15 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	Felician UniversityLodi · private nonprofit	$41,141	$42,242	$27,000	66%
2	Kean UniversityUnion · public	$39,408	$59,246	$25,993	66%
3	Monmouth UniversityWest Long Branch · private nonprofit	$37,862	$63,503	$27,000	71%
4	Centenary UniversityHackettstown · private nonprofit	$37,259	$55,071	$20,500	55%
5	TCNJEwing · public	$36,070	$64,467	$20,500	57%
6	Rider UniversityLawrenceville · private nonprofit	$36,053	Not reported	$27,000	75%
7	William Paterson University of New JerseyWayne · public	$35,864	$61,098	$25,000	70%
8	RutgersNew Brunswick · public	$34,611	$58,594	$22,431	65%
9	New Jersey City UniversityJersey City · public	$34,027	$52,935	$21,500	63%
10	Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan CampusTeaneck · private nonprofit	$33,874	$54,603	$24,672	73%
11	Rowan UniversityGlassboro · public	$33,254	$64,796	$23,250	70%
12	Berkeley College-Woodland ParkWoodland Park · private for-profit	$32,721	$47,409	$31,000	95%
13	Saint Peter's UniversityJersey City · private nonprofit	$28,558	$51,211	$23,500	82%
14	Seton Hall UniversitySouth Orange · private nonprofit	$27,167	$59,897	$23,250	86%
15	Caldwell UniversityCaldwell · private nonprofit	$22,939	$65,449	$27,000	118%

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

Debt and first-year pay at every New Jersey criminal justice program

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

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

$38,880

Median pay in New Jersey. 41,540 people work in this job in New Jersey. 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%: $32,230Top 10%: $60,420

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

$92,610

Median pay in New Jersey. 21,780 people work in this job in New Jersey. 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%: $57,740Top 10%: $134,260

Compliance Officers

$100,000

Median pay in New Jersey. 13,310 people work in this job in New Jersey. 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%: $58,860Top 10%: $158,540

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$76,280

Median pay in New Jersey. 7,360 people work in this job in New Jersey. 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%: $47,830Top 10%: $109,420

Common questions

Felician University in Lodi reports the highest median first-year pay, $41,141. Its median federal debt is $27,000.

Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked557 programs by pay and debt Criminal Justice (Associate's) programs in New Jersey, 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 New Jersey 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