Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Texas State University

San Marcos, TX · Public · Bachelor-granting · 36,177 undergrads · 89% admitted

Do students finish?
55% complete

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

What does it cost?
$28,073/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$112,292 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.

$56,906 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $38,577 median $56,906 75th pct $80,902

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.

63 Bachelor's programs · $17,465 to $66,059 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Construction Engineering Technology/Technician.Bachelor's $66,059 $22,000
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $62,828 $24,987
Industrial Engineering.Bachelor's $62,455 $24,483
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $61,829 $21,500
Computer Science.Bachelor's $58,841 $22,842
Manufacturing Engineering.Bachelor's $55,495 $19,750
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $52,884 $22,000
Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.Bachelor's $51,667 $25,000
Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General.Bachelor's $50,841 $20,500
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $49,529 $20,000
Mathematics.Bachelor's $46,466 $23,250
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $46,210 $21,875
Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $45,160 $21,291
Business/Managerial Economics.Bachelor's $44,499 $20,012
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.Bachelor's $44,111 $21,635
Marketing.Bachelor's $42,984 $20,000
Agriculture, General.Bachelor's $42,354 $21,469
Music.Bachelor's $40,576 $23,250
Geography and Cartography.Bachelor's $40,509 $20,123
Public Administration.Bachelor's $39,521 $24,141
Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $39,344 $18,543
Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $39,060 $23,000
Specialized Sales, Merchandising and Marketing Operations.Bachelor's $38,271 $22,014
Health and Medical Administrative Services.Bachelor's $37,748 $24,430
Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $37,238 $23,200
Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies.Bachelor's $37,230 $20,045
City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning.Bachelor's $36,774 $20,792
Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Policy.Bachelor's $36,583 —
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $36,149 $19,536
Economics.Bachelor's $35,227 $18,500
Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.Bachelor's $34,379 $22,365
Dance.Bachelor's $34,080 $20,500
Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $33,925 $21,750
Animal Sciences.Bachelor's $33,765 $20,875
History.Bachelor's $33,307 $21,500
Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $32,894 $17,000
Social Work.Bachelor's $32,891 $21,000
Biology, General.Bachelor's $32,646 $22,837
Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $32,398 $20,231
Microbiological Sciences and Immunology.Bachelor's $32,190 $23,115
Public Health.Bachelor's $32,069 $23,375
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $31,928 $22,687
International Relations and National Security Studies.Bachelor's $31,897 $17,750
Applied Mathematics.Bachelor's $31,596 $24,366
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $31,339 $22,084
Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services.Bachelor's $30,877 $22,500
Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.Bachelor's $30,801 $20,964
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $30,781 $21,500
Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Facilities Management.Bachelor's $30,766 $21,500
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $30,257 $19,769
Family and Consumer Economics and Related Studies.Bachelor's $30,224 $19,349
Sociology.Bachelor's $29,899 $21,360
Agricultural Business and Management.Bachelor's $29,273 $19,625
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $28,484 $21,000
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $28,428 $19,500
Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services.Bachelor's $28,179 $20,985
International/Globalization Studies.Bachelor's $27,724 $21,482
Anthropology.Bachelor's $26,464 $23,250
Journalism.Bachelor's $25,421 $16,869
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $25,416 $24,742
Zoology/Animal Biology.Bachelor's $25,146 $25,000
Film/Video and Photographic Arts.Bachelor's $21,136 $25,239
Communication Disorders Sciences and Services.Bachelor's $17,465 $18,524

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
$14,993
≈ 26% 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 (91 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