Colleges in Nebraska With the Highest Graduate Earnings
Graduate earnings are bunched together in Nebraska. The 16 four-year colleges we rank range only from $51,820 to $81,178, just $29,358 apart.
The median college sits at $59,338, within a few percent of the national median of $59,403. Public colleges (6) have a median of $54,953 and private nonprofit colleges (10) a median of $66,539, and the typical net price across the list is $18,784.
Creighton University ranks first at $81,178, ahead of Clarkson College ($80,614) and Bryan College of Health Sciences ($77,318).
How this list is built
A college appears here only if it meets every condition below.
- Colleges considered
- All 4-year colleges (public, private nonprofit and for-profit)
- Ranked by earnings after 4 years, highest first. Ties are broken by larger undergraduate enrollment, then by name.
- Main campuses only, with at least 60% of core data fields reported
- Main campus located in Nebraska
- At least 500 undergraduate students enrolled (fall 2024)
- A reported earnings after 4 years value (schools without one are not ranked)
- This page is published only when at least 15 schools qualify; Nebraska has 16
- Data period
- Earnings: median earnings four years after completing, measured in 2022 and 2023 for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 cohorts, in 2024 dollars.
- Net price: average for students receiving aid, academic year 2023-24.
- Graduate debt: median federal loan debt of completers, pooled 2020 and 2021 cohorts.
- Graduation rate: first-time, full-time students who started in fall 2018 (4-year) or fall 2021 (2-year), finishing within 150% of normal time.
- Enrollment: undergraduate students, fall 2024.
- Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, June 2026 release.
Showing all 16 qualifying schools. Select a column heading to re-sort the table.
| 1 | Creighton University Omaha, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $81,178 | $31,568 | $25,000 | 82% | 4,348 |
| 2 | Clarkson College Omaha, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $80,614 | $19,241 | $23,716 | 67% | 622 |
| 3 | Bryan College of Health Sciences Lincoln, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $77,318 | $26,919 | $24,985 | 73% | 553 |
| 4 | Nebraska Methodist College of Nursing & Allied Health Omaha, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $74,574 | $21,863 | $23,417 | 63% | 781 |
| 5 | Bellevue University Bellevue, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $71,325 | $17,550 | $20,000 | 39% | 10,220 |
| 6 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE Public · 4-year | $62,769 | $17,747 | $21,000 | 66% | 19,178 |
| 7 | Nebraska Wesleyan University Lincoln, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $61,753 | $18,327 | $26,970 | 67% | 1,453 |
| 8 | University of Nebraska at Omaha Omaha, NE Public · 4-year | $60,448 | $13,441 | $19,000 | 47% | 11,488 |
| 9 | Doane University Crete, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $58,227 | $26,364 | $25,000 | 56% | 978 |
| 10 | Midland University Fremont, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $58,061 | $26,267 | $26,134 | 43% | 1,159 |
| 11 | University of Nebraska at Kearney Kearney, NE Public · 4-year | $56,647 | $16,242 | $19,500 | 59% | 4,088 |
| 12 | Concordia University-Nebraska Seward, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $53,848 | $23,965 | $25,750 | 64% | 1,283 |
| 13 | Peru State College Peru, NE Public · 4-year | $53,258 | $11,632 | $21,875 | 38% | 1,092 |
| 14 | Hastings College Hastings, NE Private nonprofit · 4-year | $52,539 | $24,452 | $27,000 | 51% | 891 |
| 15 | Wayne State College Wayne, NE Public · 4-year | $52,406 | $15,360 | $19,000 | 54% | 3,010 |
| 16 | Chadron State College Chadron, NE Public · 4-year | $51,820 | $12,549 | $18,875 | 44% | 1,540 |
How to compare these colleges
High earnings partly reflect who enrolls and what they study: engineering, nursing and business programs usually pay more than education or the arts, so a school with strong health or technical programs can top the list. Read the earnings next to net price, debt and graduation rate, because earnings count only people who finished, and four years after graduation is early in a career.
Guides worth reading first
More lists for Nebraska
Same list in nearby states
Highest graduate earnings in Missouri
38 schools
Highest graduate earnings in Iowa
27 schools
Highest graduate earnings in Colorado
21 schools
All 27 colleges in Nebraska See the national version of this ranking