Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

University of New Orleans

New Orleans, LA · Public · Bachelor-granting · 4,638 undergrads · 74% admitted

Weigh this carefully before borrowing

Only 38% of students here finish, and the loans are owed whether or not you graduate (students who withdrew here carry a median of $8,206 in federal debt). Compare the cost and completion against a community college or in-state public university before you sign.

Do students finish?
38% complete

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

What does it cost?
$23,431/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$93,724 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.

$47,872 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $27,393 median $47,872 75th pct $72,915

67% 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.

19 Bachelor's programs · $14,757 to $64,533 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $64,533 $13,375
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $63,967 $24,750
Computer Science.Bachelor's $59,819 $12,577
Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $51,978 $11,500
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $40,126 $18,744
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $37,991 $14,475
Chemistry.Bachelor's $37,086
Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $35,194 $18,243
Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $33,564 $17,750
Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $33,390 $19,683
Marketing.Bachelor's $30,585 $17,450
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.Bachelor's $28,021 $15,874
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $26,587 $14,960
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $25,107 $18,983
Biology, General.Bachelor's $24,608 $16,743
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $21,943 $19,500
Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences.Bachelor's $20,853
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $18,536
Music.Bachelor's $14,757

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
$11,000
23% 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 (26 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