---
title: Is an Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering degree worth the debt?
cip: 1410
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 Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering degree worth the debt?

Leading with the **Bachelor's**, across **257** colleges (257 of 257 programs report earnings):

- **Median pay, 1 year after completion:** $69,655 ($69,338 at 2 years)
- **Median federal debt:** $23,000 (federal loans only)
- **Debt-to-earnings:** 0.33× a first year's pay
- **Across-college spread (middle 50%):** $66,390–$72,385 — 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 | $69,655 | $23,000 | 0.33× | 257 | 257/257 |
| Master's | $94,709 | $26,051 | 0.30× | 61 | 61/61 |

## 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 California-Berkeley (CA) | $126,367 | $13,674 |
| Carnegie Mellon University (PA) | $116,935 | $22,224 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA) | $104,229 | $10,967 |
| Cornell University (NY) | $88,459 | $14,725 |
| Lamar University (TX) | $82,521 | $18,301 |
| The University of Texas at Austin (TX) | $81,984 | $20,480 |
| University of Southern California (CA) | $81,661 | $18,497 |
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo (CA) | $79,454 | $23,475 |
| University of California-Los Angeles (CA) | $78,867 | $16,979 |
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (MI) | $78,393 | $17,430 |
| Lawrence Technological University (MI) | $78,211 | — |
| University of Alaska Anchorage (AK) | $77,850 | — |
| Northeastern University (MA) | $77,708 | $24,583 |
| Lafayette College (PA) | $77,247 | — |
| Sonoma State University (CA) | $76,907 | — |

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/electrical-electronics-and-communications-engineering.jsonld` · `/education/fields/electrical-electronics-and-communications-engineering.json`