Which Texas finance program has the lowest debt?

UT Tyler reports the lowest median federal debt, $15,875, with first-year pay of $51,959.

How much do finance graduates earn in Texas?

The median across 39 Texas finance bachelor's programs is $52,452 in the first year after graduating and $75,797 five years after.

How many finance bachelor's programs are in Texas?

39 Texas programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 38 of them also report federal debt.

Finance (Bachelor's) Programs in Texas, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

39 programs report first-year pay
38 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Finance and Financial Management Services

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Texas finance bachelor's program pays its graduates $52,452 in their first year, $921 less than the national median. SMU reports the highest first-year pay ($83,159), and UT Tyler the lowest median debt ($15,875).

Median first-year pay$52,452National $53,373

Median pay after 5 years$75,797National $77,457

Median federal debt$22,453National $23,250

Debt-to-earnings45%National 44%

All 39 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	SMUDallas · private nonprofit	$83,159	$131,515	$19,500	23%
2	UT AustinAustin · public	$81,844	$116,432	$20,500	25%
3	TCUFort Worth · private nonprofit	$78,453	$112,562	$19,500	25%
4	Texas A&MCollege Station · public	$71,409	$100,030	$16,880	24%
5	Baylor UniversityWaco · private nonprofit	$67,909	$98,333	$23,000	34%
6	UT DallasRichardson · public	$63,455	$81,869	$19,500	31%
7	Texas TechLubbock · public	$58,535	$92,415	$21,500	37%
8	UNTDenton · public	$57,524	$78,441	$22,500	39%
9	Prairie View A&M UniversityPrairie View · public	$56,791	Not reported	$35,414	62%
10	Saint Edward's UniversityAustin · private nonprofit	$55,177	$72,576	$22,062	40%
11	Tarleton StateStephenville · public	$55,138	Not reported	$18,625	34%
12	University of HoustonHouston · public	$54,041	$80,588	$17,875	33%
13	UT ArlingtonArlington · public	$53,980	$70,757	$20,250	38%
14	Texas Southern UniversityHouston · public	$53,873	$60,470	$32,987	61%
15	University of Mary Hardin-BaylorBelton · private nonprofit	$53,751	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
16	Abilene Christian UniversityAbilene · private nonprofit	$53,590	$93,291	$22,406	42%
17	Sam Houston StateHuntsville · public	$53,281	$72,461	$27,253	51%
18	East Texas A&M UniversityCommerce · public	$52,898	Not reported	$23,809	45%
19	Stephen F. AustinNacogdoches · public	$52,710	$70,731	$23,250	44%
20	UTSASan Antonio · public	$52,452	$69,265	$21,500	41%
21	Texas Wesleyan UniversityFort Worth · private nonprofit	$52,178	Not reported	$26,500	51%
22	UT TylerTyler · public	$51,959	$67,450	$15,875	31%
23	Dallas Baptist UniversityDallas · private nonprofit	$51,444	$64,333	$22,922	45%
24	Texas A&M-San AntonioSan Antonio · public	$50,867	Not reported	$23,776	47%
25	Texas A&M-VictoriaVictoria · public	$50,812	$64,724	$17,702	35%
26	Texas StateSan Marcos · public	$49,981	$80,518	$23,250	47%
27	Midwestern StateWichita Falls · public	$49,413	$59,541	$23,338	47%
28	Texas Woman's UniversityDenton · public	$48,539	Not reported	$23,805	49%
29	St. Mary's UniversitySan Antonio · private nonprofit	$48,018	$83,119	$25,257	53%
30	University of St Thomas (Texas)Houston · private nonprofit	$47,699	Not reported	$30,625	64%
31	UH-DowntownHouston · public	$47,108	$77,451	$25,000	53%
32	UH-Clear LakeHouston · public	$43,416	$64,524	$23,125	53%
33	West Texas A&M UniversityCanyon · public	$42,650	$53,333	$20,993	49%
34	Angelo StateSan Angelo · public	$42,309	Not reported	$18,809	44%
35	UTEPEl Paso · public	$40,994	$52,663	$16,510	40%
36	Austin CollegeSherman · private nonprofit	$38,592	Not reported	$26,000	67%
37	UTRGVEdinburg · public	$37,711	$49,184	$16,896	45%
38	Texas A&M-Corpus ChristiCorpus Christi · public	$36,656	$75,797	$22,750	62%
39	Lamar UniversityBeaumont · public	$36,325	$74,494	$20,980	58%

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Texas finance program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 38 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

SMU$83,159
UT Austin$81,844
TCU$78,453
Texas A&M$71,409
Baylor University$67,909

Lowest median debt

UT Tyler$15,875
UTEP$16,510
Texas A&M$16,880
UTRGV$16,896
Texas A&M-Victoria$17,702

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

General and Operations Managers

$103,230

Median pay in Texas. 431,310 people work in this job in Texas. 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%: $46,190Top 10%: $264,620

Financial Managers

$164,860

Median pay in Texas. 71,870 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 65,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $98,250Top 10%: $309,290

Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents

$78,470

Median pay in Texas. 41,640 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 35,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $48,160Top 10%: $214,220

Financial and Investment Analysts

$99,150

Median pay in Texas. 28,820 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $63,230Top 10%: $169,990

Common questions

SMU in Dallas reports the highest median first-year pay, $83,159. Its median federal debt is $19,500.

Finance (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked407 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 Texas rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the finance 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