Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Eastern Michigan University

Ypsilanti, MI · Public · Bachelor-granting · 10,055 undergrads · 80% admitted

Do students finish?
46% complete

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

What does it cost?
$29,640/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$118,560 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.

$51,793 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $30,031 median $51,793 75th pct $75,153

71% 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.

48 Bachelor's programs · $21,380 to $65,000 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $65,000 $18,196
Drafting/Design Engineering Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $64,898
Construction Management.Bachelor's $63,660 $23,500
Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $62,313 $27,000
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $61,034 $21,501
Computer Science.Bachelor's $58,700
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $57,379
Science, Technology and Society.Bachelor's $54,309
Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services.Bachelor's $46,112 $27,871
Business/Commerce, General.Bachelor's $45,558 $22,625
Air Transportation.Bachelor's $45,160 $29,591
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $45,158 $21,178
International Business.Bachelor's $44,117 $24,000
Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $43,978 $21,130
Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $43,194 $21,500
Economics.Bachelor's $42,719 $19,205
Marketing.Bachelor's $41,201 $22,630
Special Education and Teaching.Bachelor's $39,379 $31,000
Health and Medical Administrative Services.Bachelor's $38,878 $26,687
Chemistry.Bachelor's $38,708 $19,500
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $38,257 $27,725
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $37,031 $29,275
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $35,779 $26,590
Criminology.Bachelor's $35,159 $27,000
Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $34,583 $22,500
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.Bachelor's $34,111 $25,000
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $33,216 $26,600
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $32,922 $23,618
Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions.Bachelor's $32,830 $27,000
Biology, General.Bachelor's $31,551 $23,357
Specialized Sales, Merchandising and Marketing Operations.Bachelor's $31,524 $29,000
Public Health.Bachelor's $31,401 $27,000
Sociology.Bachelor's $31,326 $31,050
Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies.Bachelor's $30,353
Social Work.Bachelor's $30,254 $27,000
Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services.Bachelor's $29,262 $29,625
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $28,005 $27,000
Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $27,513 $24,187
History.Bachelor's $27,453 $29,499
Journalism.Bachelor's $27,367 $30,721
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $27,290 $26,250
Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $27,205 $26,125
Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations.Bachelor's $27,151
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $26,306 $30,558
Film/Video and Photographic Arts.Bachelor's $25,891 $27,000
Graphic Communications.Bachelor's $25,302 $27,000
Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies.Bachelor's $22,046
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $21,380 $27,000

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
$18,750
36% 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 (70 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