---
title: Cornell University — cost, debt & earnings (College Scorecard)
location: Ithaca, NY
control: Private nonprofit
source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (2026-06-10 release)
sourceUrl: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/
---

# Cornell University

Ithaca, NY · Private nonprofit · Bachelor-granting

> Federal College Scorecard institution **medians** — not a prediction of any one student's outcome, and not a figure for any single program. Earnings/debt cover federally-aided students.

## The bottom line

| Figure | Value | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Typical earnings, 10 yrs after entry | $104,043 | recorded |
| Earnings range (25th–75th pct) | $67,090 – $166,446 | recorded |
| Typical federal debt | $13,000 | recorded |
| Debt of students who withdrew | $6,934 | recorded |
| Completion rate | 95% | recorded |
| Average annual net cost | $88,140 | recorded |
| % earning above a $28k HS-grad wage | 90% | recorded |
| Debt ÷ a year's earnings | 0.13× | derived |
| Earnings premium vs $28k HS benchmark | $76,043 | derived |

**95% of students finish** — the loans are owed whether or not you graduate, so read every figure below next to this number.

Typical **federal** loan debt is $13,000 (≈ 13% of a year's typical earnings here). Note: this counts federal loans only — not private loans, Parent PLUS, or family savings — so true borrowing is usually higher; and because dropouts borrow less, low-completion schools can show a deceptively low debt figure.

## Earnings by major (the number that decides "worth it")

> **Different measure — read on its own terms.** These are median earnings **1 year after completing the program** (early career, graduates only) — NOT the 10-years-after-entry school-wide figure above. Do not compare a program figure to the school figure; compare majors to each other. The Dept. of Education omits programs with too few graduates.

By program, early-career pay ranges from $13,820 to $185,154 across 58 program(s).

| Major | Credential | Pay (1 yr out) | Median debt |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Law. | Doctoral Degree | $185,154 | $162,160 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | Master's Degree | $150,786 | $129,912 |
| Computer Science. | Master's Degree | $147,241 | $34,528 |
| Computer Science. | Bachelor's Degree | $127,764 | $14,750 |
| Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions. | Master's Degree | $114,311 | not reported |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | Master's Degree | $105,672 | not reported |
| Operations Research. | Master's Degree | $101,067 | not reported |
| Systems Engineering. | Master's Degree | $95,847 | not reported |
| Mechanical Engineering. | Master's Degree | $91,464 | $21,805 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | Bachelor's Degree | $90,735 | $15,500 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | Bachelor's Degree | $88,459 | $14,725 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | Master's Degree | $86,576 | $73,233 |
| Statistics. | Bachelor's Degree | $83,338 | not reported |
| Operations Research. | Bachelor's Degree | $78,243 | $15,000 |
| Agricultural Business and Management. | Bachelor's Degree | $78,005 | $12,500 |
| Mathematics. | Bachelor's Degree | $77,827 | $13,500 |
| Health and Medical Administrative Services. | Master's Degree | $75,859 | $98,447 |
| Materials Engineering. | Bachelor's Degree | $74,526 | $16,199 |
| Chemical Engineering. | Bachelor's Degree | $74,126 | $14,361 |
| Biomedical/Medical Engineering. | Master's Degree | $73,107 | $60,500 |
| Mechanical Engineering. | Bachelor's Degree | $72,114 | $15,500 |
| Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology. | Bachelor's Degree | $69,641 | $15,500 |
| Economics. | Bachelor's Degree | $69,416 | $15,000 |
| Civil Engineering. | Bachelor's Degree | $67,621 | $12,500 |
| Hospitality Administration/Management. | Bachelor's Degree | $66,090 | $13,086 |
| Public Policy Analysis. | Bachelor's Degree | $65,965 | $15,125 |
| Human Resources Management and Services. | Bachelor's Degree | $65,696 | $14,000 |
| Medicine. | First Professional Degree | $64,777 | not reported |
| Architecture. | Master's Degree | $64,194 | not reported |
| Public Administration. | Master's Degree | $63,188 | $51,608 |
| Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering. | Bachelor's Degree | $61,768 | $13,176 |
| Hospitality Administration/Management. | Master's Degree | $60,247 | not reported |
| Environmental Design. | Bachelor's Degree | $58,069 | not reported |
| Engineering, General. | Bachelor's Degree | $57,169 | not reported |
| Architectural Sciences and Technology. | Bachelor's Degree | $57,023 | $17,315 |
| City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning. | Master's Degree | $55,583 | $43,408 |
| Apparel and Textiles. | Bachelor's Degree | $55,049 | not reported |
| Architecture. | Bachelor's Degree | $52,794 | not reported |
| Food Science and Technology. | Bachelor's Degree | $51,489 | $14,749 |
| Political Science and Government. | Bachelor's Degree | $51,469 | $14,400 |
| Communication and Media Studies. | Bachelor's Degree | $44,071 | $14,400 |
| Agriculture, General. | Bachelor's Degree | $41,224 | $13,109 |
| Physics. | Bachelor's Degree | $38,630 | $15,961 |
| City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning. | Bachelor's Degree | $37,781 | $12,952 |
| Chemistry. | Bachelor's Degree | $37,662 | $15,121 |
| Psychology, General. | Bachelor's Degree | $36,163 | $13,000 |
| Sociology. | Bachelor's Degree | $32,205 | $11,650 |
| International Agriculture. | Bachelor's Degree | $31,652 | not reported |
| Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Other. | Bachelor's Degree | $30,195 | $13,210 |
| Area Studies. | Bachelor's Degree | $30,086 | $17,250 |
| Biology, General. | Bachelor's Degree | $29,066 | $15,500 |
| Natural Resources Conservation and Research. | Bachelor's Degree | $29,011 | $15,500 |
| History. | Bachelor's Degree | $27,797 | $17,110 |
| Animal Sciences. | Bachelor's Degree | $25,436 | $12,730 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | Bachelor's Degree | $24,951 | $16,300 |
| Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences, Other. | Post-baccalaureate Certificate | $23,890 | not reported |
| Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services. | Bachelor's Degree | $17,890 | $15,500 |
| Nutrition Sciences. | Bachelor's Degree | $13,820 | $13,250 |

## What this is — and is NOT

Institution-wide medians from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. **Not** a prediction of what you would earn or owe, **not** a figure for any single program (a CS and a fine-arts graduate of the same school diverge enormously), **not** proof the school caused the outcome (selection, not causation), and **not** a "best college" ranking. Explore Cornell University by field of study at the official Scorecard: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?190415

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Structured data (JSON-LD), each figure labeled by epistemic status: `/education/cornell-university-ny.jsonld` · all schools: `/education`