College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Kansas State University

Manhattan, KS · Public · Bachelor-granting · 15,142 undergrads · 82% admitted

Do students finish?

71% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?

$27,402/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$109,608 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.

$57,262 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $38,852 median $57,262 75th pct $82,952

79% 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.

62 Bachelor's programs · $20,448 to $72,147 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Industrial Engineering.Bachelor's $72,147 $24,399

Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $71,780 $24,000

Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $70,776 $24,500

Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $68,831 $21,000

Architectural Engineering.Bachelor's $68,390 $26,726

Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $67,854 $25,000

Agricultural and Food Products Processing.Bachelor's $66,969 $23,250

Construction Engineering Technology/Technician.Bachelor's $65,948 $27,000

Information Science/Studies.Bachelor's $65,745 —

Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $65,670 $22,116

Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $58,353 $25,000

Agricultural Engineering.Bachelor's $57,356 $18,757

Food Science and Technology.Bachelor's $54,044 $23,187

Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General.Bachelor's $53,562 $21,950

Management Information Systems and Services.Bachelor's $53,192 $23,000

Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $51,995 $21,500

Agricultural Mechanization.Bachelor's $51,141 $19,344

Business/Commerce, General.Bachelor's $50,998 $25,000

Air Transportation.Bachelor's $50,850 $20,500

Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $48,232 $23,250

Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $46,241 $22,982

Agricultural Business and Management.Bachelor's $44,913 $18,500

Marketing.Bachelor's $44,778 $22,375

Mathematics.Bachelor's $43,358 $20,000

Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations.Bachelor's $43,211 $20,150

Plant Sciences.Bachelor's $42,883 $21,500

Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $41,741 —

Economics.Bachelor's $39,897 $20,625

Agricultural Public Services.Bachelor's $39,599 —

Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $38,785 $22,186

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $38,771 —

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $38,712 $21,500

Social Work.Bachelor's $38,052 $22,500

Apparel and Textiles.Bachelor's $38,025 $21,656

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $38,005 $24,519

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $37,947 $23,408

Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General.Bachelor's $36,897 —

Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $36,706 $24,250

Nutrition Sciences.Bachelor's $36,001 $21,000

Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $35,824 $22,681

Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Policy.Bachelor's $34,223 —

Journalism.Bachelor's $33,997 $21,000

Animal Sciences.Bachelor's $33,928 $20,500

Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Facilities Management.Bachelor's $33,465 $21,500

Sociology.Bachelor's $33,165 $22,746

Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services.Bachelor's $33,115 $24,197

Gerontology.Bachelor's $32,287 $24,083

Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $31,845 $21,202

Microbiological Sciences and Immunology.Bachelor's $30,530 $17,500

Social Sciences, General.Bachelor's $30,437 $23,500

Research and Experimental Psychology.Bachelor's $30,336 $19,875

Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services.Bachelor's $28,101 $23,000

Zoology/Animal Biology.Bachelor's $27,468 $21,750

English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $27,431 $21,500

Biology, General.Bachelor's $27,147 $18,900

Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $26,951 $27,000

History.Bachelor's $26,881 $16,789

Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences.Bachelor's $25,485 $21,531

Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $25,270 —

Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services.Bachelor's $25,160 —

Natural Sciences.Bachelor's $22,898 $20,500

Anthropology.Bachelor's $20,448 $20,500

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

$17,294

≈ 30% 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.

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 (76 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