---
title: Is an Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies degree worth the debt?
cip: 0502
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 Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies degree worth the debt?

Leading with the **Bachelor's**, across **90** colleges (90 of 90 programs report earnings):

- **Median pay, 1 year after completion:** $29,213 ($29,685 at 2 years)
- **Median federal debt:** $20,500 (federal loans only)
- **Debt-to-earnings:** 0.71× a first year's pay
- **Across-college spread (middle 50%):** $26,261–$31,482 — 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 | $29,213 | $20,500 | 0.71× | 90 | 90/90 |
| Master's | $52,708 | $20,499 | 0.35× | 4 | 4/4 |

## 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 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Wellesley College (MA) | $50,587 | — |
| Stanford University (CA) | $47,961 | — |
| Columbia University in the City of New York (NY) | $41,618 | $19,500 |
| Wheaton College (Massachusetts) (MA) | $39,761 | $25,000 |
| CUNY Hunter College (NY) | $39,111 | — |
| University of Maryland-College Park (MD) | $37,951 | $16,250 |
| Yale University (CT) | $37,910 | $13,107 |
| Amherst College (MA) | $36,896 | $18,032 |
| San Francisco State University (CA) | $35,417 | $17,303 |
| San Diego State University (CA) | $35,249 | $23,080 |
| Brandeis University (MA) | $34,857 | $24,226 |
| University of Utah (UT) | $34,734 | — |
| Dartmouth College (NH) | $34,587 | $15,157 |
| Metropolitan State University of Denver (CO) | $34,350 | $22,285 |
| University of Virginia-Main Campus (VA) | $34,027 | $14,100 |

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/ethnic-cultural-minority-gender-and-group-studies.jsonld` · `/education/fields/ethnic-cultural-minority-gender-and-group-studies.json`