College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Boston University

Boston, MA · Private nonprofit · Bachelor-granting · 18,248 undergrads · 11% admitted

Do students finish?

89% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?

$86,285/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$345,140 over four years if you finish on time.

What former students go on to earn

The middle 50% of students who received federal aid, measured 10 years after they entered (an earlier entering class — not a guarantee, and not limited to those who graduated). Earnings vary enormously by field of study.

$83,238 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $56,723 median $83,238 75th pct $122,012

87% earn more than a typical high-school graduate (the dashed line above, $28,000 — a fixed, somewhat dated federal benchmark) ten years on.

Your major matters more than your school

The school-wide figure above blends every major together — but pay varies enormously by program. Pick a degree level (and search your major) to compare like-for-like.

Read these on their own terms. Program pay is measured 1 year after completing the program (early career, graduates only) — not the same as the school-wide number above, which is 10 years after a student first enrolled. Don't compare a program figure to the school figure; use the programs to compare majors to each other.

42 Bachelor's programs · $24,688 to $90,529 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $90,529 $25,984

Computer Science.Bachelor's $82,237 $23,125

Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $69,404 $25,000

Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $67,918 —

Biomedical/Medical Engineering.Bachelor's $61,357 $25,500

Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $61,072 $26,646

Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $60,547 $23,196

Economics.Bachelor's $53,654 $24,224

Social Sciences, Other.Bachelor's $48,872 —

Special Education and Teaching.Bachelor's $46,446 $27,000

Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $46,444 $21,000

Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $46,076 $23,250

Mathematics.Bachelor's $43,129 $19,250

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $41,943 $25,500

Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $41,873 $23,250

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $39,106 $23,250

International Relations and National Security Studies.Bachelor's $38,920 $23,394

Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.Bachelor's $38,708 $25,000

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $37,863 —

Neurobiology and Neurosciences.Bachelor's $37,633 $24,325

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $37,298 $27,000

History.Bachelor's $37,151 $25,996

Journalism.Bachelor's $36,717 $24,500

Psychology, General.Bachelor's $36,705 $23,250

Philosophy.Bachelor's $36,276 $25,375

Education, General.Bachelor's $34,838 $27,000

Chemistry.Bachelor's $34,787 $25,990

Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General.Bachelor's $34,542 $25,889

Research and Experimental Psychology.Bachelor's $34,431 —

Sociology.Bachelor's $33,033 $26,375

Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions.Bachelor's $32,935 $25,000

English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $32,854 $25,750

Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.Bachelor's $32,475 $22,167

Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, and Population Biology.Bachelor's $32,224 $24,677

Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences.Bachelor's $31,920 $27,000

Social Work.Bachelor's $31,847 —

Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology.Bachelor's $31,373 $27,000

Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $31,093 —

Biology, General.Bachelor's $30,006 $25,985

Visual and Performing Arts, General.Bachelor's $28,215 —

Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $25,859 $26,849

Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $24,688 $20,475

The Dept. of Education omits programs with too few graduates (to protect privacy), so not every major appears. Pay is a median for federally-aided graduates. Full program detail on the official Scorecard.

Typical federal loan debt

$21,500

≈ 26% of one year's typical earnings here

This counts federal student loans only — not private loans, Parent PLUS loans, or family savings, so the true cost of borrowing is usually higher.

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is an institution-wide median from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn or owe — a computer-science and a fine-arts graduate of the same school can earn wildly different amounts, and your field of study matters more than your school. It is not a figure for any one program, not proof the school caused the outcome (selective schools admit students who would earn more anyway), and not a "best college" ranking. Earnings and debt cover federally-aided students.

→ The number that actually answers "worth it" is earnings by major — see the by-major breakdown above (95 programs at this school).

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (2026-06-10 release). · school website