College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA · Public · Bachelor-granting · 22,264 undergrads · 84% admitted

Do students finish?

75% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?

$28,596/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$114,384 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.

$64,762 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $44,345 median $64,762 75th pct $93,325

84% 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.

50 Bachelor's programs · $21,136 to $72,973 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $72,973 $24,250

Industrial Engineering.Bachelor's $67,231 $21,375

Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $64,942 $26,990

Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $63,367 $22,922

Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $61,039 $27,000

Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $59,083 $17,734

Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods.Bachelor's $58,967 $20,500

Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $57,434 $25,500

Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $56,188 $21,500

Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.Bachelor's $53,518 $24,949

Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $52,516 $22,500

Biomedical/Medical Engineering.Bachelor's $51,874 $27,000

Marketing.Bachelor's $48,634 $23,250

Human Resources Management and Services.Bachelor's $46,918 $21,275

Mathematics.Bachelor's $45,811 $21,000

Economics.Bachelor's $42,807 $20,486

Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $39,929 $21,399

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $38,689 $27,000

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $38,648 $21,886

International Relations and National Security Studies.Bachelor's $37,556 $21,625

Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.Bachelor's $37,499 $21,761

Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $37,289 $22,850

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $37,220 $21,500

Criminology.Bachelor's $35,879 $21,500

Journalism.Bachelor's $34,092 $23,957

Microbiological Sciences and Immunology.Bachelor's $33,933 —

Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.Bachelor's $33,574 $21,500

Non-Professional Legal Studies.Bachelor's $33,148 —

Sociology.Bachelor's $32,195 $23,250

Music.Bachelor's $32,047 $27,000

Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies.Bachelor's $31,686 $25,000

Chemistry.Bachelor's $31,178 $25,650

Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $31,109 $22,250

Psychology, General.Bachelor's $30,834 $22,312

Social Work.Bachelor's $30,698 $22,427

Biology, General.Bachelor's $30,684 $22,875

Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $30,057 $24,596

Anthropology.Bachelor's $28,973 $24,250

Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies.Bachelor's $28,751 $27,000

English Language and Literature/Letters, Other.Bachelor's $28,536 $22,230

Health/Medical Preparatory Programs.Bachelor's $28,092 —

English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $28,072 $20,400

History.Bachelor's $26,945 $21,379

Film/Video and Photographic Arts.Bachelor's $26,443 $24,116

Dance.Bachelor's $26,423 $21,500

Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $26,145 $23,250

Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $25,923 $25,277

Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $24,266 $23,875

Communication Disorders Sciences and Services.Bachelor's $22,731 $27,000

International/Globalization Studies.Bachelor's $21,136 $21,814

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

$18,207

≈ 28% 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 (77 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