Career outcomes brief

College of the Ozarks Career Outcomes & Earnings

Updated October 1, 2026

How much do College of the Ozarks graduates earn?

The reported median is $44,258 four years after completion.

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $44,258, at the 8th percentile nationally. That is $11,657 below the $55,915 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth places the university at the 2nd percentile for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. The part attributes to the factors it measures subtracts $369.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $31,562. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $65.

Earnings vary across the university’s modeled program-mix scenarios, so the schoolwide median does not describe every field. The downside scenario is $38,687, and the upside scenario is $69,329; both are earnings scenarios rather than observed groups of graduates.

Among the higher-earning fields, median earnings four years after completion are $60,422 in Accounting, $60,192 in Nursing, and $49,360 in Agricultural Business and Management. Those program medians sit across a wide modeled scenario range, making field choice especially relevant to the earnings picture.

Graduate study matters when reading four-year earnings. An estimated 27.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix rather than observed enrollment.

Four-year earnings cover completers who are working and not enrolled, so graduates continuing their studies are outside that earnings snapshot.

How could earnings differ from the median?

Earnings four years after completion

Planning rangeReported median

Lower estimate: Not reported
Median · reported: $44,258
Higher estimate: Not reported

Downside shows a lower-earning scenario based on the college’s mix of programs; upside shows a higher-earning scenario. Typical is the school’s reported median four years after completion. These are planning scenarios, not a forecast of your salary or percentiles of individual graduates.

Why the downside matters explores the risk hidden by medians, using older ten-year entrant data. Read about the move to four-year earnings.

Do College of the Ozarks graduates earn more than expected?

Azimuth models what we would expect graduates to earn based on who the college enrolls, how selective it is and its local economy. The difference between that expectation and reported earnings is what Azimuth calls value added.

That comparison is not reported for College of the Ozarks. Unlike a peer comparison, it adjusts for who enrolls.

The breakdown separates the contribution attributed to observed factors from the remaining difference. Neither component establishes how much attending College of the Ozarks caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at College of the Ozarks report the highest earnings?

Program-level earnings at College of the Ozarks range from higher-earning accounting and nursing fields to more moderate business outcomes. At the higher end, Accounting had median earnings of $60,422 four years after completion, alongside 14 degrees awarded.

Nursing followed at $60,192 with 16 degrees awarded. Agricultural Business and Management recorded $49,360 four years after completion and 5 degrees awarded.

Business Administration and Management, the largest of these programs by awards, showed $47,665 with 34 degrees awarded. The figures show that earnings differ materially across fields, including among programs with comparatively substantial numbers of degrees awarded.

College of the Ozarks has a varied program picture: Business accounts for 17.8% of bachelor’s degrees awarded, while reported earnings differ by field. Published four-year earnings cover 8 bachelor’s programs. The reported results vary by both field and degree volume.

Highest reported four-year program earnings

Accounting and Related Services: $60,422
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing: $60,192
Agricultural Business and Management: $49,360
Business Administration, Management and Operations: $47,665
Psychology, General: $44,659
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication: $44,554
Animal Sciences: $42,296
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas: $32,583

Explore College of the Ozarks program cohorts and field ranks for more context.

Further analysis

At four years after completion, earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix range from a downside of $38,687 through a typical scenario of $44,258 to an upside scenario of $69,329. For a field anchor, Accounting has median earnings of $60,422; among the largest programs with published earnings, Subject-Area Teacher Education has $32,583. The spread shows variation by field rather than observed groups.

The earnings result is therefore low relative to the national coverage cohort. Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, also points downward.

The typical scenario modeled from the program mix matches the observed median, rather than describing a separate observed group. An estimated 27.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix.

The low percentile and lower-than-expected earnings point in the same direction.

Data & methodology

Sources and reporting periods: methodology.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.