---
title: Is a Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General degree worth the debt?
cip: 1901
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 a Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General degree worth the debt?

Leading with the **Bachelor's**, across **53** colleges (53 of 53 programs report earnings):

- **Median pay, 1 year after completion:** $27,661 ($28,682 at 2 years)
- **Median federal debt:** $23,757 (federal loans only)
- **Debt-to-earnings:** 0.86× a first year's pay
- **Across-college spread (middle 50%):** $25,547–$31,686 — 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 | $27,661 | $23,757 | 0.86× | 53 | 53/53 |
| Master's | $42,593 | $29,627 | 0.63× | 9 | 9/9 |

## Where a 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 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Iowa State University (IA) | $38,447 | $18,730 |
| Illinois State University (IL) | $38,389 | $19,653 |
| Kansas State University (KS) | $36,897 | — |
| SUNY Oneonta (NY) | $36,547 | — |
| San Francisco State University (CA) | $36,459 | $16,702 |
| East Central University (OK) | $33,715 | — |
| Texas Southern University (TX) | $33,311 | — |
| Montclair State University (NJ) | $33,272 | — |
| Ball State University (IN) | $33,247 | — |
| CUNY Queens College (NY) | $33,138 | $10,750 |
| Texas Tech University (TX) | $32,914 | $23,429 |
| The University of Alabama (AL) | $31,951 | $22,497 |
| California State University-Northridge (CA) | $31,949 | $16,375 |
| Morgan State University (MD) | $31,686 | $30,750 |
| Minnesota State University-Mankato (MN) | $30,773 | $22,375 |

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/family-and-consumer-sciences-human-sciences-general.jsonld` · `/education/fields/family-and-consumer-sciences-human-sciences-general.json`