College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY · Public · Bachelor-granting · 24,763 undergrads · 93% admitted

Do students finish?

71% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?

$34,391/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$137,564 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.

$59,025 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $38,233 median $59,025 75th pct $86,281

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.

55 Bachelor's programs · $17,785 to $67,465 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $67,465 $23,485

Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $64,632 $21,500

Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $62,556 $23,250

Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $60,597 $22,950

Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $60,064 $21,453

Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $58,034 $25,418

Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $55,159 $22,478

Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $52,351 $15,688

Agricultural Engineering.Bachelor's $51,269 $19,500

Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $50,819 $20,750

Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $50,335 $22,562

Business/Managerial Economics.Bachelor's $47,381 $20,441

Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $45,726 $26,250

Information Science/Studies.Bachelor's $42,916 $25,000

Business/Commerce, General.Bachelor's $41,792 $22,500

Agricultural Business and Management.Bachelor's $40,029 $19,500

Economics.Bachelor's $39,976 $25,000

Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $39,835 $21,125

Marketing.Bachelor's $38,713 $22,500

Mathematics.Bachelor's $37,594 $18,102

Agricultural/Animal/Plant/Veterinary Science and Related Fields, Other.Bachelor's $37,268 $21,694

Special Education and Teaching.Bachelor's $37,223 $25,250

Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $36,018 $23,000

Architecture.Bachelor's $35,777 $20,815

Apparel and Textiles.Bachelor's $35,317 $22,612

Health and Medical Administrative Services.Bachelor's $35,220 $23,250

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $34,959 $22,500

Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $34,243 $22,500

Journalism.Bachelor's $31,366 $25,000

Agricultural Production Operations.Bachelor's $30,296 $19,500

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $29,771 $22,804

Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $29,710 —

Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies, General.Bachelor's $29,546 $25,100

Animal Sciences.Bachelor's $29,252 $20,800

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $29,192 $20,500

Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General.Bachelor's $28,623 $27,000

Social Work.Bachelor's $28,314 $22,500

Public Health.Bachelor's $28,293 $23,250

Biotechnology.Bachelor's $27,968 $22,507

Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $27,800 $20,606

Agricultural Public Services.Bachelor's $26,813 $22,875

International/Globalization Studies.Bachelor's $26,694 $24,550

Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General.Bachelor's $26,420 $23,000

Chemistry.Bachelor's $26,392 $22,000

Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.Bachelor's $25,801 $22,750

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management.Bachelor's $25,200 $27,000

Psychology, General.Bachelor's $24,569 $23,500

Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services.Bachelor's $24,464 $20,000

Anthropology.Bachelor's $23,884 $20,500

Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $23,573 $23,250

Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $23,473 $26,000

English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $23,244 $20,194

History.Bachelor's $22,606 $18,750

Biology, General.Bachelor's $21,456 $22,250

Sociology.Bachelor's $17,785 $24,041

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

$16,750

≈ 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 (85 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