College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Amherst, MA · Public · Bachelor-granting · 23,671 undergrads · 60% admitted

Do students finish?

83% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?

$34,549/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$138,196 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.

$71,631 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $43,210 median $71,631 75th pct $103,346

82% 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.

56 Bachelor's programs · $21,022 to $79,216 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Computer Science.Bachelor's $79,216 $22,679

Industrial Engineering.Bachelor's $72,455 $26,111

Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $72,222 $27,000

Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $71,683 $27,000

Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $68,607 $25,000

Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $66,719 $25,292

Architectural Sciences and Technology.Bachelor's $62,664 $22,250

Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $62,571 $22,867

Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $62,074 $26,961

Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $59,840 $27,000

Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $57,890 $20,500

Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services, Other.Bachelor's $57,821 —

Physics.Bachelor's $55,521 $26,202

Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $54,919 $20,500

Mathematics.Bachelor's $49,522 $21,000

Economics.Bachelor's $49,510 $22,250

Marketing.Bachelor's $49,497 $21,796

Landscape Architecture.Bachelor's $48,955 —

Chemistry.Bachelor's $47,828 —

Food Science and Technology.Bachelor's $45,674 —

Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $45,299 $21,500

Microbiological Sciences and Immunology.Bachelor's $41,003 $23,750

Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.Bachelor's $40,847 $22,496

Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $39,519 $23,250

Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.Bachelor's $39,509 $23,250

Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $38,660 $20,500

Philosophy.Bachelor's $38,509 —

Sociology.Bachelor's $36,845 $21,500

Environmental Design.Bachelor's $35,881 $20,000

Non-Professional Legal Studies.Bachelor's $35,347 $21,500

Public Health.Bachelor's $35,279 $21,746

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $35,030 $20,369

Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $34,701 —

Education, General.Bachelor's $34,193 —

Psychology, General.Bachelor's $33,355 $22,172

Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences.Bachelor's $32,667 $25,000

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $32,552 $22,597

English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $32,548 $21,750

Journalism.Bachelor's $32,153 $21,500

Biology, General.Bachelor's $31,324 $24,250

Animal Sciences.Bachelor's $29,600 $26,724

Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies.Bachelor's $29,543 —

Nutrition Sciences.Bachelor's $29,516 $20,500

Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $29,052 $22,844

Music.Bachelor's $28,867 —

Social Sciences, Other.Bachelor's $28,794 —

Communication Disorders Sciences and Services.Bachelor's $27,069 $22,375

Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $26,930 $22,375

Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $26,593 —

Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $25,695 —

Plant Sciences.Bachelor's $25,146 $23,250

Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $25,119 —

History.Bachelor's $23,848 $21,250

East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $23,509 —

Anthropology.Bachelor's $22,966 —

Agricultural Production Operations.Bachelor's $21,022 $19,979

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

$20,000

≈ 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 (76 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