---
title: Is an East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics degree worth the debt?
cip: 1603
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 an East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics degree worth the debt?

Leading with the **Bachelor's**, across **21** colleges (21 of 21 programs report earnings):

- **Median pay, 1 year after completion:** $27,933 ($31,305 at 2 years)
- **Median federal debt:** $19,172 (federal loans only)
- **Debt-to-earnings:** 0.70× a first year's pay
- **Across-college spread (middle 50%):** $23,928–$30,773 — 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bachelor's | $27,933 | $19,172 | 0.70× | 21 | 21/21 |

## Where an Bachelor's in this field reports the highest early-career pay

Reflects who enrolls and where, not causal program quality.

| College | Pay (1yr) | Federal debt |
| --- | --- | --- |
| University of Rhode Island (RI) | $51,745 | $19,845 |
| San Francisco State University (CA) | $39,250 | $15,750 |
| University of California-Davis (CA) | $32,689 | $14,500 |
| Arizona State University Campus Immersion (AZ) | $31,738 | $18,500 |
| CUNY Hunter College (NY) | $31,328 | — |
| University of Maryland-College Park (MD) | $30,773 | — |
| Michigan State University (MI) | $30,642 | $21,290 |
| University of North Carolina at Charlotte (NC) | $30,521 | $28,047 |
| Ohio State University-Main Campus (OH) | $29,509 | $20,638 |
| University of Washington-Seattle Campus (WA) | $28,026 | — |
| Western Washington University (WA) | $27,933 | — |
| University of California-Los Angeles (CA) | $26,836 | $13,900 |
| Portland State University (OR) | $26,377 | $25,000 |
| University of Oregon (OR) | $26,311 | $23,000 |
| University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (MN) | $24,889 | $16,917 |

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/east-asian-languages-literatures-and-linguistics.jsonld` · `/education/fields/east-asian-languages-literatures-and-linguistics.json`