College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA · Private nonprofit · Bachelor-granting · 20,443 undergrads · 10% admitted

Do students finish?

92% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?

$90,300/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$361,200 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.

$92,498 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $58,692 median $92,498 75th pct $141,338

86% 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.

46 Bachelor's programs · $17,245 to $106,621 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $106,621 $6,625

Computer Science.Bachelor's $104,298 $19,625

Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $81,661 $18,497

Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering.Bachelor's $78,078 $20,030

Real Estate.Bachelor's $75,665 $19,500

Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $75,576 $8,125

Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $74,693 $14,250

Computer Software and Media Applications.Bachelor's $72,085 —

Industrial Engineering.Bachelor's $70,709 $17,704

Dental Support Services and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $66,674 $30,556

Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $66,458 $13,000

Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $64,797 $16,491

Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $62,573 $15,750

Applied Mathematics.Bachelor's $61,861 $12,251

Real Estate Development.Bachelor's $60,983 $17,375

Economics.Bachelor's $54,837 $13,850

Biomedical/Medical Engineering.Bachelor's $53,160 $13,750

Architectural Sciences and Technology.Bachelor's $53,003 $30,500

Architecture.Bachelor's $50,964 —

Cognitive Science.Bachelor's $49,368 $18,250

International Relations and National Security Studies.Bachelor's $48,625 $13,247

Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $46,759 $19,500

Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $46,379 $15,875

Journalism.Bachelor's $44,188 $15,000

City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning.Bachelor's $44,115 —

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $41,043 $12,000

Sociology.Bachelor's $37,102 $9,625

Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $36,038 $20,000

Film/Video and Photographic Arts.Bachelor's $35,793 $19,500

Psychology, General.Bachelor's $34,924 $14,000

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $31,909 $3,000

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management.Bachelor's $31,628 $20,353

Public Health.Bachelor's $30,704 $15,000

Human Biology.Bachelor's $30,297 $14,481

History.Bachelor's $29,963 $12,138

Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $29,631 $18,000

Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $28,913 $19,750

Philosophy.Bachelor's $28,506 $7,500

Social Sciences, General.Bachelor's $28,365 —

Neurobiology and Neurosciences.Bachelor's $26,886 $14,000

Biology, General.Bachelor's $24,988 $4,618

Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $24,981 $12,000

Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.Bachelor's $24,569 $3,000

Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies.Bachelor's $23,653 $19,131

Visual and Performing Arts, General.Bachelor's $18,394 —

Music.Bachelor's $17,245 $19,839

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

$16,112

≈ 17% 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 (114 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