Education Atlas

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

Is a Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General degree worth the debt?

The figures below lead with the Bachelor's, aggregated across 53 colleges (53 of 53 programs report earnings). Other credential levels are in the table further down.

Median pay · 1 yr after
$27,661

Graduates only, early career.$28,682 two years out.

Median federal debt
$23,757

Federal loans only — not private or Parent PLUS.

Debt vs a year's pay
0.86×

86% of a first year's earnings.

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

The college you pick moves this a lot

The middle 50% of Bachelor's programs in Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General report early-career pay between $25,547 and $31,686 — a spread of $6,139 that depends on the program and who attends it, not the major alone.

25th pct $25,547 median $27,661 75th pct $31,686

By degree level

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

LevelPay · 1yrDebtDebt/pay
Bachelor's 53 colleges $27,661 $23,757 0.86×
Master's 9 colleges $42,593 $29,627 0.63×

Where a 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.

Iowa State University IA $38,447 $18,730 debt
Illinois State University IL $38,389 $19,653 debt
Kansas State University KS $36,897
SUNY Oneonta NY $36,547
San Francisco State University CA $36,459 $16,702 debt
East Central University OK $33,715
Texas Southern University TX $33,311
Ball State University IN $33,247
CUNY Queens College NY $33,138 $10,750 debt
Texas Tech University TX $32,914 $23,429 debt
The University of Alabama AL $31,951 $22,497 debt
California State University-Northridge CA $31,949 $16,375 debt
Morgan State University MD $31,686 $30,750 debt
Minnesota State University-Mankato MN $30,773 $22,375 debt

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is a median across college programs in Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General, 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