Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Purdue University Fort Wayne

Fort Wayne, IN · Public · Bachelor-granting · 5,484 undergrads · 84% admitted

Weigh this carefully before borrowing

Only 36% of students here finish, and the loans are owed whether or not you graduate (students who withdrew here carry a median of $5,746 in federal debt). Compare the cost and completion against a community college or in-state public university before you sign.

Do students finish?
36% complete

A large share of students do not finish; the cost is the same whether or not you graduate.

What does it cost?
$22,183/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$88,732 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.

$45,872 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $28,749 median $45,872 75th pct $65,825

66% 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.

25 Bachelor's programs · $21,584 to $61,729 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $61,729
Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $59,593
Computer Science.Bachelor's $59,540 $25,500
Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $58,127 $27,000
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $53,059 $24,772
Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management.Bachelor's $50,136
Construction Engineering Technology/Technician.Bachelor's $49,864 $21,784
Dental Support Services and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $44,157 $22,313
Business/Commerce, General.Bachelor's $41,756 $20,003
Mathematics.Bachelor's $39,698 $16,500
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $39,156 $28,371
Chemistry.Bachelor's $39,051
Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $38,451 $23,000
Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $35,308 $19,500
Public Administration.Bachelor's $35,275 $20,375
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $34,779 $22,828
Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $34,053 $21,932
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $33,885 $22,068
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $31,586 $20,500
Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $31,339 $22,303
Biology, General.Bachelor's $29,094 $18,000
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $28,994
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $26,736 $15,986
History.Bachelor's $24,748
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $21,584 $22,806

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
$10,556
23% 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 (29 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