Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

University of South Carolina-Columbia

Columbia, SC · Public · Bachelor-granting · 29,820 undergrads · 60% admitted

Do students finish?
79% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?
$31,638/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$126,552 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.

$62,177 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $41,018 median $62,177 75th pct $93,729

78% 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.

51 Bachelor's programs · $17,736 to $71,229 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $71,229 $27,000
International Business.Bachelor's $66,365 $25,174
Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $65,383 $25,675
Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $65,370 $26,241
Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $64,632 $22,750
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $61,735 $23,375
Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods.Bachelor's $61,685 $22,497
Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $60,050 $26,000
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $57,440 $23,250
Biomedical/Medical Engineering.Bachelor's $54,181 $23,000
Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $53,758 $23,250
Insurance.Bachelor's $53,142 $25,173
Business/Managerial Economics.Bachelor's $52,227 $23,250
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $49,131 $25,283
Marketing.Bachelor's $47,936 $23,250
Mathematics.Bachelor's $45,793 $22,100
Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $43,327 $22,497
Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.Bachelor's $40,689 $26,836
Economics.Bachelor's $39,069 $21,434
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $38,046 $21,500
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $36,111 $22,990
Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.Bachelor's $35,916 $21,500
General Sales, Merchandising and Related Marketing Operations.Bachelor's $35,741 $23,250
Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $34,341 $24,000
Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $33,639 $21,500
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $33,399 $24,490
Music.Bachelor's $32,878 $27,000
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $32,471 $21,910
Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences.Bachelor's $32,065 $23,250
Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $31,800 $20,500
Geography and Cartography.Bachelor's $31,673 $21,500
Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $31,397 $21,500
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $30,327 $19,500
Sociology.Bachelor's $30,218 $25,250
Journalism.Bachelor's $30,181 $21,750
International Relations and National Security Studies.Bachelor's $29,596 $18,875
Public Health.Bachelor's $29,317 $21,500
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $28,824 $22,500
Dance.Bachelor's $28,533 —
History.Bachelor's $28,443 $20,500
Chemistry.Bachelor's $27,527 $23,263
Research and Experimental Psychology.Bachelor's $26,963 $21,500
Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.Bachelor's $25,473 $23,250
Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, and Population Biology.Bachelor's $25,267 $18,965
Biology, General.Bachelor's $24,955 $21,500
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $23,772 $23,125
Social Work.Bachelor's $23,487 $21,467
Film/Video and Photographic Arts.Bachelor's $23,440 $22,500
Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences.Bachelor's $23,103 $23,250
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $20,809 $24,250
Anthropology.Bachelor's $17,736 $18,000

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
$18,500
≈ 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 (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