Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

The University of Alabama

Tuscaloosa, AL · Public · Bachelor-granting · 33,227 undergrads · 77% admitted

Do students finish?
73% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?
$33,382/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$133,528 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.

$59,221 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $39,848 median $59,221 75th pct $87,405

77% 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.

46 Bachelor's programs · $17,611 to $70,103 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $70,103 $21,992
Management Information Systems and Services.Bachelor's $66,858 $21,375
Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $65,760 $24,015
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $65,725 $23,787
Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $65,209 $22,625
Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering.Bachelor's $65,199 $26,787
Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $61,525 $25,000
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $58,043 $20,000
Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods.Bachelor's $52,711 $23,250
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $52,220 $22,190
Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $48,795 $23,250
Mathematics.Bachelor's $46,634 $20,000
Marketing.Bachelor's $45,924 $21,500
Business/Managerial Economics.Bachelor's $44,909 $21,500
Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $42,470 $23,250
Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $40,655 $26,000
Family and Consumer Economics and Related Studies.Bachelor's $39,629 $22,477
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $38,904 $24,889
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $37,936 $26,125
Special Education and Teaching.Bachelor's $37,693 $25,473
Apparel and Textiles.Bachelor's $35,189 $25,000
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $34,129 $24,459
Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $33,886 $22,662
Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $33,300 $23,250
Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $32,626 $23,250
Public Health.Bachelor's $32,103 $25,000
Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General.Bachelor's $31,951 $22,497
Journalism.Bachelor's $31,764 $23,375
Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.Bachelor's $31,690 $23,875
Social Work.Bachelor's $30,850 $24,072
History.Bachelor's $30,190 $20,568
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $30,061 $23,750
Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies, General.Bachelor's $29,712 $26,735
Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services.Bachelor's $28,610 $23,719
Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services.Bachelor's $28,565 $24,125
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $28,212 $21,500
International Relations and National Security Studies.Bachelor's $27,766 $23,250
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $27,760 $23,250
Music.Bachelor's $27,724 $23,519
Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $26,760 $20,807
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $25,391 $22,250
Biology, General.Bachelor's $25,063 $23,905
Communication Disorders Sciences and Services.Bachelor's $21,805 $21,500
Anthropology.Bachelor's $19,624 —
Dance.Bachelor's $19,399 —
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $17,611 $26,750

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
$17,986
≈ 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 (65 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