How big is student debt compared with pay, by major?

Graduates in the 20 most common bachelor's majors borrowed about the same in federal student loans, roughly $21,000 to $25,000 at the typical college, but their pay differed widely. For teacher education graduates, that debt equaled 51% of a year's earnings four years after graduating; for computer science graduates, 21%. Debt is the median of colleges' median federal loan debt for 2018–19 and 2019–20 graduates who borrowed (private and parent loans not counted). Earnings cover only graduates who received federal aid and were working, in 2022 and 2023.

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Key facts

Measure: Typical federal loan debt as a percent of a year's earnings. Written from the data below.

  • Teacher education has the highest figure, 51.2%, followed by Psychology (46.1%) and English (45.3%).
  • Computer science has the lowest figure, 20.6%, followed by Computer and information sciences (24.6%) and Mechanical engineering (24.9%).
  • The highest is 2.5 times the lowest.

Source and date

Source
U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How big is student debt compared with pay, by major?” Chart. Data: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/ (data as of December 31, 2023). https://chart.ly/charts/student-debt-vs-earnings-by-major (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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Major (bachelor's degree) Typical federal loan debt as a percent of a year's earnings
Teacher education 51.2
Psychology 46.1
English 45.3
Social work 44.9
Kinesiology and physical education 44.4
Criminal justice 44.3
Liberal arts and general studies 43.6
Sociology 43
Biology 40.8
Communication and media studies 40.8
Business administration and management 34.2
Political science 34
Marketing 32.5
Accounting 30.2
Finance 26
Nursing 25.8
Economics 25.1
Mechanical engineering 24.9
Computer and information sciences 24.6
Computer science 20.6

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