College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA · Public · Bachelor-granting · 27,752 undergrads · 87% admitted

Do students finish?

68% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?

$28,604/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$114,416 over four years if you finish on time.

What former students go on to earn

The middle 50% of students who received federal aid, measured 10 years after they entered (an earlier entering class — not a guarantee, and not limited to those who graduated). Earnings vary enormously by field of study.

$76,343 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $47,905 median $76,343 75th pct $109,864

82% earn more than a typical high-school graduate (the dashed line above, $28,000 — a fixed, somewhat dated federal benchmark) ten years on.

Your major matters more than your school

The school-wide figure above blends every major together — but pay varies enormously by program. Pick a degree level (and search your major) to compare like-for-like.

Read these on their own terms. Program pay is measured 1 year after completing the program (early career, graduates only) — not the same as the school-wide number above, which is 10 years after a student first enrolled. Don't compare a program figure to the school figure; use the programs to compare majors to each other.

49 Bachelor's programs · $20,382 to $80,254 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $80,254 $25,500

Systems Engineering.Bachelor's $71,876 $20,500

Computer Science.Bachelor's $71,514 —

Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $70,242 $25,000

Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $69,322 $21,000

Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $64,934 $20,787

Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $63,950 $13,000

Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $61,988 $24,113

Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods.Bachelor's $57,420 $17,250

Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $56,805 $20,000

Economics.Bachelor's $55,517 $19,000

Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $52,937 $20,000

Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $49,321 $19,440

Marketing.Bachelor's $46,771 $18,375

Mathematics.Bachelor's $46,522 $24,750

Biomedical/Medical Engineering.Bachelor's $46,303 $23,594

Geography and Cartography.Bachelor's $46,150 $20,500

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $42,975 $20,449

Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $42,258 $20,500

Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $41,771 $19,500

Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences, Other.Bachelor's $40,857 $21,500

Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $40,661 $17,750

Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.Bachelor's $40,070 $28,000

Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences.Bachelor's $39,578 —

International Relations and National Security Studies.Bachelor's $39,409 $20,117

Public Administration.Bachelor's $39,354 $18,750

Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution.Bachelor's $39,297 $25,000

Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies.Bachelor's $39,051 $20,000

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $38,384 $21,696

Sociology.Bachelor's $35,119 $16,676

Chemistry.Bachelor's $34,646 $20,504

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $34,587 $19,500

Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $34,209 $21,651

Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $34,052 $22,483

Social Work.Bachelor's $33,725 $19,250

Sustainability Studies.Bachelor's $33,709 $24,670

Psychology, General.Bachelor's $32,267 $17,625

Public Health.Bachelor's $32,071 $20,500

Neurobiology and Neurosciences.Bachelor's $31,574 $19,727

Biology, General.Bachelor's $29,849 $19,125

English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $28,330 $18,750

Music.Bachelor's $27,836 $21,917

Visual and Performing Arts, General.Bachelor's $26,808 $21,125

Graphic Communications.Bachelor's $26,474 $22,985

Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $25,883 $27,000

Film/Video and Photographic Arts.Bachelor's $24,682 $23,205

Anthropology.Bachelor's $23,524 $22,875

History.Bachelor's $22,998 $18,750

Dance.Bachelor's $20,382 $26,950

The Dept. of Education omits programs with too few graduates (to protect privacy), so not every major appears. Pay is a median for federally-aided graduates. Full program detail on the official Scorecard.

Typical federal loan debt

$15,750

≈ 21% of one year's typical earnings here

This counts federal student loans only — not private loans, Parent PLUS loans, or family savings, so the true cost of borrowing is usually higher. And because students who drop out borrow less, a school where many students don't finish can show a deceptively low debt figure — read it next to the completion rate above.

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is an institution-wide median from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn or owe — a computer-science and a fine-arts graduate of the same school can earn wildly different amounts, and your field of study matters more than your school. It is not a figure for any one program, not proof the school caused the outcome (selective schools admit students who would earn more anyway), and not a "best college" ranking. Earnings and debt cover federally-aided students.

→ The number that actually answers "worth it" is earnings by major — see the by-major breakdown above (93 programs at this school).

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (2026-06-10 release). · school website