---
title: Is a Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education degree worth the debt?
cip: 1302
source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard — Field of Study (2026-06-10 release)
sourceId: src:doe:college-scorecard:field-of-study:2026-06-10
---

# Is a Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education degree worth the debt?

Leading with the **Master's**, across **13** colleges (13 of 13 programs report earnings):

- **Median pay, 1 year after completion:** $55,265 ($55,693 at 2 years)
- **Median federal debt:** $30,000 (federal loans only)
- **Debt-to-earnings:** 0.65× a first year's pay
- **Across-college spread (middle 50%):** $52,936–$60,699 — the program you choose moves the number this much.


**How to read this:** these are MEDIANS across college programs, measured **1–2 years after completion** (early career, graduates only) — NOT lifetime earnings, and NOT comparable to a college's 10-years-after-entry figure. They cover **federally-aided completers at programs large enough to report**; small programs are suppressed. A field median is not a prediction of your outcome, not causal (who enters a field differs by field), and **not a "best majors" ranking** — earnings are one dimension of worth. Verify by field at the official College Scorecard (https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/).

## By degree level

| Level | Pay (1yr) | Federal debt | Debt/pay | Colleges | Programs reporting |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Master's | $55,265 | $30,000 | 0.65× | 13 | 13/13 |
| Grad cert. | $80,800 | — | — | 3 | 3/3 |

## Where a Master's in this field reports the highest early-career pay

Reflects who enrolls and where, not causal program quality.

| College | Pay (1yr) | Federal debt |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CUNY City College (NY) | $70,590 | — |
| Bank Street College of Education (NY) | $65,492 | — |
| Southern Methodist University (TX) | $61,009 | — |
| University of San Francisco (CA) | $60,699 | — |
| California State University-Long Beach (CA) | $57,261 | — |
| University of Colorado Boulder (CO) | $55,318 | — |
| DePaul University (IL) | $55,265 | — |
| Loyola Marymount University (CA) | $54,862 | — |
| Southern Connecticut State University (CT) | $54,642 | — |
| Concordia University-Chicago (IL) | $52,936 | — |
| Wayne State University (MI) | $50,869 | — |
| University of Northern Colorado (CO) | $46,544 | — |
| Northern Arizona University (AZ) | $46,190 | $30,000 |

RECORDED College Scorecard figures + one DERIVED ratio (debt-to-earnings). Informs and compares; not advice on what to major in. Each college's full record: `/education/<slug>`.

Structured data: `/education/fields/bilingual-multilingual-and-multicultural-education.jsonld` · `/education/fields/bilingual-multilingual-and-multicultural-education.json`