Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

West Virginia University

Morgantown, WV · Public · Bachelor-granting · 17,385 undergrads · 89% admitted

Do students finish?
65% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?
$26,415/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$105,660 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.

$55,939 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $35,542 median $55,939 75th pct $84,067

76% 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.

55 Bachelor's programs · $18,726 to $74,468 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Petroleum Engineering.Bachelor's $74,468 $26,000
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $69,420 $22,221
Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $68,916 $23,000
Industrial Engineering.Bachelor's $66,292 $25,048
Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering.Bachelor's $66,040 $27,242
Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $65,850 $26,000
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $65,253 —
Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $63,506 $22,354
Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $62,059 $22,250
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $61,227 $23,000
Mining and Mineral Engineering.Bachelor's $57,766 $24,903
Management Information Systems and Services.Bachelor's $56,463 $20,898
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $55,033 $24,573
Computer Science.Bachelor's $54,477 $23,026
Dental Support Services and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $53,761 $26,000
Landscape Architecture.Bachelor's $50,843 —
Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $45,204 $25,000
Marketing.Bachelor's $44,543 $22,777
Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $43,925 $24,242
Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $43,916 $22,250
Mathematics.Bachelor's $43,465 —
Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences.Bachelor's $41,892 $22,719
Forestry.Bachelor's $40,623 $20,500
Business/Commerce, General.Bachelor's $40,412 $25,262
Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Policy.Bachelor's $39,614 $22,239
Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $38,872 $25,300
Agricultural Business and Management.Bachelor's $37,948 $23,796
Business/Managerial Economics.Bachelor's $37,890 —
Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs, Other.Bachelor's $35,526 $24,478
Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $35,406 $25,000
Journalism.Bachelor's $33,444 $24,188
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.Bachelor's $32,950 $24,250
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $32,668 $20,180
Plant Sciences.Bachelor's $32,545 $25,000
Social Work.Bachelor's $32,401 $24,778
Sociology.Bachelor's $32,177 $22,250
Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $32,159 $20,916
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.Bachelor's $31,937 $23,677
Geography and Cartography.Bachelor's $30,831 $23,089
Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $29,769 —
Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management.Bachelor's $29,380 $19,746
Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $28,507 $21,431
Chemistry.Bachelor's $28,079 $24,000
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $27,882 $24,916
Biology, General.Bachelor's $26,403 $20,500
Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services.Bachelor's $26,102 $25,000
Psychology, General.Bachelor's $25,520 $22,500
Animal Sciences.Bachelor's $25,506 $19,500
Music.Bachelor's $24,980 $23,975
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $24,612 $23,242
History.Bachelor's $24,029 $21,500
Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences.Bachelor's $22,430 $21,187
Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Facilities Management.Bachelor's $19,620 —
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $19,345 $19,500
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $18,726 $21,250

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
$15,500
≈ 28% 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 (82 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