Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond, VA · Public · Bachelor-granting · 20,753 undergrads · 93% admitted

Do students finish?
63% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?
$38,954/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$155,816 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.

$58,128 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $37,933 median $58,128 75th pct $84,890

75% 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 · $16,953 to $70,920 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $70,920 $22,550
Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $70,204 $23,605
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $67,978 $19,933
Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $67,147 $27,000
Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $62,311 $22,220
Dental Support Services and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $62,142 $22,341
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $60,267 $21,591
Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.Bachelor's $56,687 $22,000
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $54,497 $19,849
Information Science/Studies.Bachelor's $53,416 $21,500
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $52,310 $23,500
Physics.Bachelor's $45,482 $22,078
Business/Commerce, General.Bachelor's $43,919 $21,298
Biomedical/Medical Engineering.Bachelor's $43,433 $22,250
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services, Other.Bachelor's $41,654 $20,000
Marketing.Bachelor's $40,690 $20,500
Business/Managerial Economics.Bachelor's $40,239 $18,000
Mathematics.Bachelor's $39,377 $25,750
Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $34,326 $21,250
Urban Studies/Affairs.Bachelor's $32,639 $22,250
Social Work.Bachelor's $32,157 $22,000
Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $32,107 $20,000
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $31,961 $21,500
Chemistry.Bachelor's $31,701 $20,500
Area Studies.Bachelor's $31,111 $22,625
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.Bachelor's $30,506 $22,500
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $29,863 $25,000
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $29,652 $21,167
Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $29,473 $24,250
Sociology.Bachelor's $29,284 $23,500
Biological and Physical Sciences.Bachelor's $28,313 $24,000
History.Bachelor's $28,141 $21,269
Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $27,404 $21,500
Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $25,501 $21,627
Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies.Bachelor's $25,218 $25,998
Biology, General.Bachelor's $24,666 $20,500
Crafts/Craft Design, Folk Art and Artisanry.Bachelor's $24,463 $20,500
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $24,182 $19,949
Religion/Religious Studies.Bachelor's $23,285 —
Music.Bachelor's $22,973 $27,000
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $22,092 $20,500
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $21,783 $21,500
Anthropology.Bachelor's $21,118 $13,996
Film/Video and Photographic Arts.Bachelor's $19,660 $24,125
Dance.Bachelor's $19,193 $27,000
Philosophy.Bachelor's $16,953 $20,500

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
$17,021
≈ 29% 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 (75 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