College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Wayne State University

Detroit, MI · Public · Bachelor-granting · 15,587 undergrads · 81% admitted

Do students finish?

58% complete

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

What does it cost?

$27,350/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$109,400 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.

$53,493 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $29,797 median $53,493 75th pct $79,117

70% 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.

47 Bachelor's programs · $20,218 to $78,723 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services.Bachelor's $78,723 —

Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $76,864 $23,182

Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $73,198 $18,750

Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $72,343 —

Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $71,849 $22,500

Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $70,278 $23,167

Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $64,406 $26,500

Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $63,013 $24,468

Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $56,865 $27,500

Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $56,638 $25,000

Management Information Systems and Services.Bachelor's $55,142 $21,542

Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.Bachelor's $54,221 $23,695

International Business.Bachelor's $53,860 $18,750

Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $52,667 $18,507

Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $49,303 $19,735

Mathematics.Bachelor's $48,388 $27,000

Funeral Service and Mortuary Science.Bachelor's $47,187 $15,011

Marketing.Bachelor's $43,746 $20,125

Human Resources Management and Services.Bachelor's $43,409 $20,375

Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $40,710 $25,000

Special Education and Teaching.Bachelor's $40,585 $35,750

Sociology.Bachelor's $36,556 $26,811

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $36,314 $30,953

Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication.Bachelor's $35,595 $24,055

Economics.Bachelor's $35,437 $19,374

Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $34,519 $25,500

Journalism.Bachelor's $32,704 $27,725

Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences.Bachelor's $32,562 —

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $32,349 $22,250

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $32,028 $21,250

Public Administration.Bachelor's $29,693 $23,086

Anthropology.Bachelor's $28,921 $25,486

Chemistry.Bachelor's $28,106 $21,054

Communication Disorders Sciences and Services.Bachelor's $27,898 $20,500

Psychology, General.Bachelor's $27,699 $23,250

Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $27,658 $29,617

Social Work.Bachelor's $26,984 $23,000

Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.Bachelor's $26,902 $30,500

Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services.Bachelor's $26,542 $20,568

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $25,489 $18,028

Film/Video and Photographic Arts.Bachelor's $25,007 $21,400

History.Bachelor's $23,971 $25,000

Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $23,350 $20,195

Biology, General.Bachelor's $23,098 $19,384

English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $23,061 $24,113

Apparel and Textiles.Bachelor's $22,351 $22,441

Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $20,218 $21,853

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

$16,597

≈ 31% 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 (80 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