College Scorecard · field of study · all U.S. colleges

Is an Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering degree worth the debt?

The figures below lead with the Bachelor's, aggregated across 257 colleges (257 of 257 programs report earnings). Other credential levels are in the table further down.

Median pay · 1 yr after

$69,655

Graduates only, early career.$69,338 two years out.

Median federal debt

$23,000

Federal loans only — not private or Parent PLUS.

Debt vs a year's pay

0.33×

33% of a first year's earnings.

Typical debt is well under a single year's early-career pay.

The college you pick moves this a lot

The middle 50% of Bachelor's programs in Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering report early-career pay between $66,390 and $72,385 — a spread of $5,995 that depends on the program and who attends it, not the major alone.

25th pct $66,390 median $69,655 75th pct $72,385

By degree level

Each level is a separate decision — more schooling usually means more pay and more debt.

LevelPay · 1yrDebtDebt/pay

Bachelor's 257 colleges $69,655 $23,000 0.33×

Master's 61 colleges $94,709 $26,051 0.30×

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

The 15 programs with the highest reported pay one year after completion. This reflects who enrolls and where they live as much as the program itself — it is not a causal quality ranking.

University of California-Berkeley CA $126,367 $13,674 debt

Carnegie Mellon University PA $116,935 $22,224 debt

Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA $104,229 $10,967 debt

Cornell University NY $88,459 $14,725 debt

Lamar University TX $82,521 $18,301 debt

The University of Texas at Austin TX $81,984 $20,480 debt

University of Southern California CA $81,661 $18,497 debt

California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo CA $79,454 $23,475 debt

University of California-Los Angeles CA $78,867 $16,979 debt

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI $78,393 $17,430 debt

Lawrence Technological University MI $78,211 —

University of Alaska Anchorage AK $77,850 —

Northeastern University MA $77,708 $24,583 debt

Lafayette College PA $77,247 —

Sonoma State University CA $76,907 —

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is a median across college programs in Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering, from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn (your college, effort, and local job market vary enormously — see the spread above), not lifetime earnings (it is measured 1–2 years after completion, early career), not proof the major caused the outcome (who enters a field differs by field — selection, not causation), and not a "best majors" ranking: earnings are one dimension of worth, not the whole of it. Teaching and social work pay far less than the fields at the top of this list and matter enormously. Earnings cover federally-aided completers at programs large enough to report.

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard — Field of Study (2026-06-10 release). · explore this field on the official Scorecard