Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Central Michigan University

Mount Pleasant, MI · Public · Bachelor-granting · 10,035 undergrads · 90% admitted

Do students finish?
59% complete

A large share of students do not finish; the cost is the same whether or not you graduate.

What does it cost?
$30,681/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$122,724 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.

$55,874 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $38,496 median $55,874 75th pct $78,697

75% 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.

55 Bachelor's programs · $18,160 to $74,597 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Drafting/Design Engineering Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $74,597 $28,500
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $69,477 $28,500
Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $66,978 $27,000
Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $64,535 $28,000
Management Information Systems and Services.Bachelor's $62,490 $26,500
Computer Science.Bachelor's $62,306 $26,000
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $56,922 $27,000
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $54,198 $28,125
Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $50,594 $25,500
Marketing.Bachelor's $50,397 $27,000
Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods.Bachelor's $49,995 $20,500
Human Resources Management and Services.Bachelor's $49,323 $26,703
Mathematics.Bachelor's $49,258 —
Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $49,172 $27,000
Statistics.Bachelor's $47,464 —
Economics.Bachelor's $42,428 $27,000
Community Organization and Advocacy.Bachelor's $41,663 $26,500
Special Education and Teaching.Bachelor's $40,909 $31,000
Health and Medical Administrative Services.Bachelor's $40,726 $26,000
Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations.Bachelor's $40,200 $27,000
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $39,217 $28,987
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $38,154 $27,000
Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $37,986 $28,125
Geography and Cartography.Bachelor's $37,181 $26,250
Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $36,339 $28,937
Specialized Sales, Merchandising and Marketing Operations.Bachelor's $36,273 $26,125
Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.Bachelor's $36,092 $27,000
Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions.Bachelor's $35,927 $26,324
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $35,420 $27,000
Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $35,035 $26,745
Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $34,718 $27,500
Social Work.Bachelor's $34,258 $27,000
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $34,207 $27,000
Non-Professional Legal Studies.Bachelor's $32,836 —
Social Sciences, Other.Bachelor's $32,349 $27,000
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $29,054 $27,000
Sociology.Bachelor's $28,884 $27,000
Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services.Bachelor's $28,465 $27,000
International Relations and National Security Studies.Bachelor's $28,049 $26,750
History.Bachelor's $27,317 $22,000
Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.Bachelor's $26,758 $27,000
Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $26,725 $26,000
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $26,404 $31,000
Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies.Bachelor's $25,945 —
Journalism.Bachelor's $25,827 $27,000
Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.Bachelor's $25,404 —
Biology, General.Bachelor's $24,895 $27,000
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $24,851 $27,000
Neurobiology and Neurosciences.Bachelor's $24,783 $25,000
Music.Bachelor's $24,731 $28,000
Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $24,559 $28,644
Anthropology.Bachelor's $22,549 $27,982
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $22,179 $27,000
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $21,927 $27,000
Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services.Bachelor's $18,160 $24,877

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
$23,183
≈ 42% 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. And because students who drop out borrow less, a school where many students don't finish can show a deceptively low debt figure — read it next to the completion rate above.

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 (77 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