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

Is a Student Counseling and Personnel Services degree worth the debt?

The figures below lead with the Master's, aggregated across 303 colleges (303 of 303 programs report earnings). Other credential levels are in the table further down.

Median pay · 1 yr after

$42,950

Graduates only, early career.$43,638 two years out.

Median federal debt

$41,000

Federal loans only — not private or Parent PLUS.

Debt vs a year's pay

0.93×

93% 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 Master's programs in Student Counseling and Personnel Services report early-career pay between $40,121 and $47,144 — a spread of $7,023 that depends on the program and who attends it, not the major alone.

25th pct $40,121 median $42,950 75th pct $47,144

By degree level

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

LevelPay · 1yrDebtDebt/pay

Master's 303 colleges $42,950 $41,000 0.93×

Doctoral 3 colleges $54,490 $47,455 0.91×

Grad cert. 7 colleges $44,597 $50,873 1.14×

Where a Master'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.

Fresno Pacific University CA $70,696 —

Seattle Pacific University WA $63,181 $55,648 debt

Concordia University-Chicago IL $60,778 $47,380 debt

Seattle University WA $60,700 $61,500 debt

California State University-Los Angeles CA $60,412 $40,301 debt

San Francisco State University CA $60,297 $40,113 debt

Alfred University NY $60,036 $24,864 debt

New York Institute of Technology NY $59,303 $58,860 debt

CUNY Lehman College NY $58,979 $41,000 debt

University of Puget Sound WA $58,778 —

California State University-East Bay CA $58,229 $39,757 debt

San Jose State University CA $57,614 —

University of La Verne CA $57,502 —

Saint Mary's College of California CA $57,458 $66,300 debt

Valdosta State University GA $57,170 $32,488 debt

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is a median across college programs in Student Counseling and Personnel Services, 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