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

Big Bend Community College reports the lowest median federal debt, $5,500, with first-year pay of $22,737.

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

The median across 24 Washington liberal arts and general studies associate's programs is $27,689 in the first year after graduating and $41,766 five years after.

How many liberal arts and general studies associate's programs are in Washington?

24 Washington programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 24 of them also report federal debt.

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

24 programs report first-year pay
24 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 Washington liberal arts and general studies associate's program pays its graduates $27,689 in their first year, $550 more than the national median. Northwest University reports the highest first-year pay ($47,645), and Big Bend Community College the lowest median debt ($5,500).

Median first-year pay$27,689National $27,139

Median pay after 5 years$41,766National $40,284

Median federal debt$9,498National $10,864

Debt-to-earnings32%National 38%

All 24 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	Northwest UniversityKirkland · private nonprofit	$47,645	Not reported	$12,000	25%
2	Spokane Community CollegeSpokane · public	$34,583	$44,896	$16,455	48%
3	Highline CollegeDes Moines · public	$31,291	$54,864	$6,678	21%
4	Everett Community CollegeEverett · public	$30,993	$47,245	$8,125	26%
5	Lower Columbia CollegeLongview · public	$30,845	$38,880	$9,578	31%
6	Skagit Valley CollegeMount Vernon · public	$30,437	$38,123	$8,788	29%
7	Olympic CollegeBremerton · public	$29,917	$41,766	$6,598	22%
8	Bellevue CollegeBellevue · public	$29,666	$52,321	$9,598	32%
9	South Puget Sound Community CollegeOlympia · public	$29,056	$45,233	$11,000	38%
10	Shoreline CollegeShoreline · public	$28,804	$41,408	$8,895	31%
11	Spokane Falls Community CollegeSpokane · public	$28,078	$38,980	$11,991	43%
12	Seattle Central CollegeSeattle · public	$28,025	$36,524	$9,500	34%
13	Cascadia CollegeBothell · public	$27,352	$48,778	$7,000	26%
14	Whatcom Community CollegeBellingham · public	$27,020	$39,959	$11,458	42%
15	Yakima Valley CollegeYakima · public	$26,743	$44,658	$8,367	31%
16	Wenatchee Valley CollegeWenatchee · public	$26,203	$41,592	$6,936	26%
17	Tacoma Community CollegeTacoma · public	$25,892	$42,320	$12,000	46%
18	Pierce College DistrictLakewood · public	$24,101	$42,890	$10,944	45%
19	Walla Walla Community CollegeWalla Walla · public	$24,084	$39,773	$11,000	46%
20	Clark CollegeVancouver · public	$23,953	$40,985	$9,496	40%
21	Peninsula CollegePort Angeles · public	$23,117	$34,523	$8,713	38%
22	Grays Harbor CollegeAberdeen · public	$23,049	$40,129	$6,500	28%
23	Big Bend Community CollegeMoses Lake · public	$22,737	$37,928	$5,500	24%
24	Edmonds CollegeLynnwood · public	$21,520	$48,896	$12,000	56%

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 24 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.

Common questions

Northwest University in Kirkland reports the highest median first-year pay, $47,645. Its median federal debt is $12,000.

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 Washington, ranked5 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 Washington 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