Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Eastern Kentucky University

Richmond, KY · Public · Bachelor-granting · 12,318 undergrads · 78% admitted

Do students finish?
50% complete

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

What does it cost?
$23,735/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$94,940 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.

$45,795 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $29,173 median $45,795 75th pct $66,400

65% 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 · $20,006 to $67,935 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $67,935 $30,849
Construction Management.Bachelor's $59,585 $24,500
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $58,745 $22,312
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $50,605 $23,281
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $49,380 $17,613
Fire Protection.Bachelor's $48,702 $27,000
Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $42,563 $21,500
Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.Bachelor's $41,884 $25,000
Homeland Security.Bachelor's $40,678 $26,979
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $39,625 $21,500
Air Transportation.Bachelor's $38,561 $23,781
Marketing.Bachelor's $38,362 $23,406
Business/Commerce, General.Bachelor's $37,931 $26,500
Insurance.Bachelor's $37,153
Agricultural Production Operations.Bachelor's $36,121 $20,387
Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $35,263 $19,000
Social Work.Bachelor's $33,448 $28,284
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $33,034 $20,000
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $32,879 $24,931
Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $32,868 $15,500
Health and Medical Administrative Services.Bachelor's $32,399 $24,250
Special Education and Teaching.Bachelor's $32,084 $28,375
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $30,148 $20,472
Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $29,941 $20,238
Legal Support Services.Bachelor's $27,538
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $27,520 $22,000
Specialized Sales, Merchandising and Marketing Operations.Bachelor's $27,507
Chemistry.Bachelor's $27,317 $20,025
Public Health.Bachelor's $27,112 $22,375
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $26,811 $26,500
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $26,490 $25,000
Biology, General.Bachelor's $25,881 $23,327
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $25,642 $22,985
Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Facilities Management.Bachelor's $25,541 $25,000
American Sign Language.Bachelor's $25,017
Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.Bachelor's $24,978 $22,853
Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services.Bachelor's $24,568 $25,250
Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management.Bachelor's $23,643 $17,151
History.Bachelor's $21,771 $24,250
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $21,422 $25,300
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $21,031 $20,509
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.Bachelor's $20,006 $24,499

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
$14,929
33% 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 (59 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