What this does
A degree's page gathers everything the site knows about one field of study, at one level, in one state. It answers four questions in one place:
- What is this field? A short official description, the credentials schools offer in it and how long each usually takes.
- Where can I study it? A table of the universities in your state that offer it, with their published ranks, an estimated starting and median salary, a yearly cost and the year the degree may pay for itself.
- What jobs does it lead to? The careers the federal degree-to-career crosswalk links to this field, each one a link to its own page.
- How have graduates done? Typical debt at graduation and, in Texas, what graduates of each school earned one and ten years after finishing.
It helps a student choose between schools for a field already chosen, a parent weigh the yearly cost against likely pay, and a counselor show the full set of options, including associate's and certificate routes, side by side.
Before you start
- Arrive from a degree. You normally reach this page by clicking a card on the Degrees list, a field under Similar fields on another degree's page, or a degree link elsewhere on the site. If you open the page with no degree chosen, it sends you straight to the Degrees list.
- Pick a state. Choose it in Showing data for. With no state set, the page shows only Pick a state to see this degree program. and the state menu. If you switch to another state while on this page, the same degree reloads for the new state.
- Know your residency. If you will study in a state where you do not live, you will want Out-of-state / non-resident in Residency (cost basis).
- Know the level. The page opens at the level of the card you clicked (undergraduate or graduate). You can switch credentials with the Level chips at the top.
Texas has the fullest model. In Texas the break-even year is the ROI Calculator's own 20-year projection for that school and degree with its default inputs, and the graduate earnings table is shown; in other states the break-even year is a simpler estimate and the graduate earnings table does not appear. Both are explained below.
Step by step
- Click a card on the Degrees list. The page opens with the title Universities for degree in your state and the degree's name on the line under it.
- Read the AI Outlook box under the title, if it appears. Open About this rating for the caveats.
- Look at the filter bar. The Level: chip that is lit is the credential most schools offer for this field (for example Bachelor's). Click another chip, such as Associate's or Master's, to see schools for that credential instead.
- Click one or more Type: chips (Public, Private Non-Profit, For-Profit, Community College) to keep only those kinds of school. Clear filters appears; click it to turn the Type chips off again.
- Type part of a town in City: (the box reads Filter by city…) to keep schools in matching cities.
- Read About this degree and Typical credentials to see what the field covers and how long each credential takes.
- Under More for degree, use Hiring demand for related careers → or Stack against another degree → if you want to leave for Jobs Trends or Compare with this degree already chosen.
- Scan Careers degree leads to. Click a career to open its page. Click +N more if the list is cut short.
- Go to the universities card, headed Universities for degree in your state. Type in Search university for degree to find one school by name.
- Set Type of school and Residency (cost basis). Each change reloads the page's data for that choice. The Level chip, any lit Type chips and the text in the City and name boxes stay as they are and still apply to the reloaded list.
- Click a column heading to sort by it; click again to reverse. Hover a heading to read what it means.
- In a school's row, click ⓘ Show institution insights for admissions, earnings, debt and campus figures, or Calculate ROI → to open the ROI Calculator with this school and degree filled in.
- Scroll down for graduate outcomes (Texas), the federal loan debt line, and recent job postings for this degree.
Every control explained
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showing data for | Top of the page | The state. The page reloads with the same degree for the new state. | The state you last picked on this device | No United States choice here: schools are listed one state at a time. |
| Level: chips Certificate, Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, PhD / Doctoral | Filter bar under the title | Which credential the universities table shows. Exactly one chip is lit. Master's and PhD / Doctoral are graduate; the other three are undergraduate. Moving across levels loads that level's schools once, then switches instantly. | The credential with the most schools in the level you arrived at | Also sets the level used by every Calculate ROI → link. The page address does not change, so a bookmark reopens at the level of the original card. |
| Type: chips Public, Private Non-Profit, For-Profit, Community College | Filter bar, second row | Keeps only schools of the lit types. Several can be lit at once; a school passes if it matches any of them. | None lit (all schools) | Works instantly, without reloading. Combines with the level, city and name filters. |
| Clear filters | End of the Type row; appears only while a Type chip is lit | Turns off every Type chip | Hidden | Does not reset the level chip, the city box or the name search. |
| City: (box reads Filter by city…) | Filter bar, third row | Keeps schools whose city contains what you type (capitals do not matter) | Empty | Type a few letters; "san" matches every city with "san" in its name. |
| Search university for degree | Top of the universities card | Keeps schools whose name contains what you type | Empty | In Texas the box shows a few Texas school names as examples; in other states it reads Type a school name. |
| Type of school | Universities card, left | All, Public, Private nonprofit or Private for-profit. Asks the server again for that kind of school and reloads every panel. | All | Use the Type chips above for quick, instant filtering; this menu is the server-side version. Your Level, Type, City and name filters are kept when it reloads. |
| Residency (cost basis) | Universities card, right | In-state your state or Out-of-state / non-resident. Reloads the data on that cost basis. | In-state | Outside Texas this changes Annual Direct Cost and Avg Break-Even. In Texas it changes only Avg Break-Even (see Reading the results). |
| Column headings (University, State Rank, National Rank, Avg Break-Even, Entry Salary, Median Salary, Annual Direct Cost) | Top of the universities table | Click to sort by that column; click again to reverse. ▲ or ▼ marks the active column, ⇅ the others. | Sorted by State Rank, best first | Ranks, break-even year and cost sort lowest first on the first click; salaries sort highest first. Schools with no value always go to the bottom. |
| Column tooltips | Hover any heading except University | Shows a one-paragraph definition of the column | — | The Annual Direct Cost tooltip follows your state: in Texas it describes tuition, fees and books; elsewhere tuition plus housing and living costs. See the note under Reading the results. |
| Calculate ROI → | Under each school's name | Opens the ROI Calculator with this school, this degree and the level of the lit chip filled in | — | Works for graduate levels too. You can change any input in the calculator. |
| ⓘ Show institution insights / ⓘ Hide insights | Under each school's name | Opens or closes a small panel of school facts inside the row | Closed | Shows Loading… the first time. Only the facts the school has published appear. |
| Browse all degrees with data → | Inside the table when no school is found | Goes back to the Degrees list | — | Appears with the "No … universities with ROI data found" message. |
| Field links under Similar fields offered in your state | In place of Typical credentials, only when no school in your state offers this exact field | Opens that related field's page | — | The related page opens at the undergraduate level. |
| Career names under Careers degree leads to | Careers card | Opens the career's page with this degree already chosen | — | Listed A to Z in three columns. |
| +N more / Show fewer | Under the careers list | Shows the careers past the first 30, or hides them again | First 30 shown | Appears only when there are more than 30 careers. |
| Hiring demand for related careers → (card Current trends) | More for degree card | Opens Jobs Trends with this degree carried over | — | See Jobs Trends. |
| Stack against another degree → (card Compare) | More for degree card | Opens Compare Degrees with this degree already ticked at the level you arrived at (undergraduate or graduate) | — | Pick one or more other fields there. See Compare degrees. |
| About this rating | AI Outlook box under the title | Opens the caveats for the AI rating | Closed | Read it before quoting the rating to anyone. |
| Search institution box (graduate outcomes) | Graduate outcomes card (Texas) | Keeps rows whose institution name contains what you type | Empty | Searches the 50 rows on show, not every row. |
| Graduate outcomes column headings (Institution, Award, Graduating class, Median 1y wage, Median 10y wage) | Graduate outcomes table (Texas) | Click (or press Enter) to sort; click again to reverse | Sorted by Median 10y wage, highest first | Re-sorting picks a new top 50 from all rows. Rows with no value stay at the bottom. |
| + N more / Show fewer (postings) | Each column of Recent your state postings for this degree | Shows or hides the rest of the metros, experience levels or employers | Short list | Only when the postings sample is large enough to break down. |
| Career links under Careers these graduates landed in | Postings card | Opens that career's page | — | Up to 10 careers. |
Reading the results
The page runs top to bottom in this order: title, AI Outlook, the Level / Type / City bar, About this degree, Typical credentials (or Similar fields), More for this degree, Careers this degree leads to, the universities table, graduate outcomes (Texas), the debt line, and recent postings. A panel with nothing to show is hidden rather than left empty.
The universities table
The heading reads Universities for degree in your state. The table opens sorted by State Rank, best (lowest number) first. Schools without a State Rank come after the ranked ones, listed by outcome measures: earnings, completion and cost. A school appears once for each credential it offers in the field, so a school with both an associate's and a bachelor's is listed under both Level chips. In Texas, when a school has more than one program row for the same credential, the lowest-cost one is kept. A column in which every school shows "—" is hidden. The table scrolls inside its own frame: Scroll inside the table to see all universities. Click a column header to sort.
Above the table, How State Rank & National Rank are computed. explains the two rank columns in a few lines, so you can read the rule without hovering.
| Item | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University | The school's name, then a grey line: city · school type · credential | Text | IPEDS institution records (newest year) | School type in plain words: Public, Private nonprofit, Private for-profit or Community college; left out when the type is not reported. The credential is in plain words too, for example Bachelor's Degree or Graduate Certificate. |
| State Rank | The school's place among schools in your state on a published outside ranking | #n; lower is better | Composite of the Washington Monthly 2024 overall ranking, College Scorecard outcomes (completion, retention, earnings, Pell access, net price) and IPEDS faculty salary and endowment | The school's position within its state in that composite. "—" when the school is not in it. |
| National Rank | The same composite, across all U.S. institutions | #n; lower is better | Same as State Rank | The school's position nationally. "—" when the school has none of the three inputs. |
| Avg Break-Even | The estimated year after you start when what you have gained from the degree passes what it cost | Year N | Texas: College Scorecard and BLS earnings, HUD Fair Market Rents, living-cost tables, ACS 2023 baseline earnings, 2024 federal loan rate. Other states: the cost and median salary on the same row | Texas: the ROI Calculator's 20-year projection for this school and degree with its default inputs: no savings or in-school earnings, market rent near the school and default living costs, rent and living costs during school borrowed, tuition rising each year, the loan capped at the school's typical student debt, and this degree's typical salary in place of one career's wage. Opening the calculator for this school and degree with a career that earns that salary, and leaving its inputs as they are, gives the same year. Other states: annual direct cost × program years, divided by the median salary minus $45,000 (the U.S. median for high-school graduates, BLS 2024), rounded to a whole year; "—" when the median is $45,000 or less or the answer passes 30 years. Program years: 1 for certificates, 2 for associate's and master's, 4 for bachelor's, 5 for doctoral. |
| Entry Salary | An estimate of starting pay for graduates of this field | Dollars a year | College Scorecard Field-of-Study earnings (national); Texas fallback: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | The national 25th-percentile earnings for this field and credential. In Texas, when that is missing, the average 25th-percentile wage across the careers the field leads to. "—" when neither exists. It is never a school's own figure, and the column's tooltip says so. |
| Median Salary | Typical pay for graduates of this field | Dollars a year | College Scorecard Field-of-Study earnings; Texas fallback: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | The school's own median for this field where published, else the national median for the field and credential, else (Texas only) the average median wage across the field's careers. |
| Annual Direct Cost | A yearly cost figure for the school | Dollars a year | See the note below | Differs between Texas and other states; see the note below. "—" when no usable tuition exists for the chosen residency. |
| Grey example text in the search box | Placeholder only | — | — | Not a filter; disappears as you type. |
What Annual Direct Cost includes
- In Texas: the school's in-state tuition and required fees plus books and supplies, for one year, from the College Scorecard (the school list's own tuition is used when the Scorecard has none). Books and supplies are added only to a tuition figure: a school with no usable tuition shows "—", never a books-only cost. It does not include housing or other living costs, and it stays the in-state figure when you switch Residency (cost basis). Residency in Texas changes the Avg Break-Even year, whose simulation does count living costs and out-of-state tuition.
- In every other state: tuition for the residency you chose (in-state or out-of-state, from IPEDS) plus a student-rate housing cost (the HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom near the school, scaled down by 18% to a student rate) plus other living costs (the MIT Living Wage figure for one adult, minus housing, cut back for a student budget: less dining out, bus or bike instead of a car, a parent's or student health plan), times twelve months. Where neither rent nor living-wage data exists for the school, a flat $800 a month is used for living costs. If the school has no usable tuition for the chosen residency, the cell shows "—" rather than a living-cost-only figure.
The tooltip on Annual Direct Cost matches the state you are viewing. In Texas it reads "In-state tuition, fees and books for one year (College Scorecard…)", because the Texas figure has no housing or living costs and does not change with residency. In other states it describes tuition plus housing and other living costs.
Tuition rules
- A tuition figure is used only if it is more than $0 and at most $80,000 a year. A $0 means "not reported", and anything above $80,000 is a program total or a source error, so both are hidden and the cost cell shows "—".
- Outside Texas, the list of schools is the set of schools in the newest IPEDS year. For each school, tuition comes from the newest IPEDS year that has a usable figure, because IPEDS publishes tuition several months after it publishes the list of schools.
- In Texas, only schools with a usable in-state tuition appear in this table. Outside Texas, schools without one still appear, with "—" for cost and break-even. Either way, every school with no usable in-state tuition is also listed on Schools with no tuition data.
- A school that has left the newest College Scorecard release is not listed.
Institution insights
The insights panel shows, when published: Acceptance rate, SAT verbal range and SAT math range (25th to 75th percentile), ACT composite (midpoint), Median earnings 5 yrs after grad, % earning over $25k 5 yrs out, Median debt at graduation, Loan repayment rate (5 yrs), Cohort default rate (3 yrs), First-time full-time retention, Student-faculty ratio, Instructional faculty (count), Professor avg salary (9-month), Library collection size, Library annual expenditure, Undergrad enrollment, First-generation students and Endowment assets, plus badges such as HBCU, Hispanic-Serving or Online-only. Money is shortened ("$60k", "$1.2M"). The footer reads Sources: U.S. Dept of Education College Scorecard + NCES IPEDS, latest published. If nothing is published you see Institution insights not yet available for this school.
The other panels
| Item | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Outlook | How exposed the careers this degree leads to are to AI. Labels: AI-Enhanced, AI-Complemented, At Risk — Near Term (1–3y), At Risk — Mid Term (3–7y), At Risk — Long Term (7–15y), Largely Insulated, Mixed | Label | Samantar's research-based AI-impact catalog, using the federal degree-to-career crosswalk | The most common rating among the careers the degree feeds into, stated as "k of n"; ties lean to the less worrying rating. The What this means: line explains the label in plain words. The sentence ends "Individual careers vary; open a career's page for its own rating.": the per-career breakdown is not shown on this page. When no rating exists yet, the box says so. |
| About this degree | The official description of the field | Text | NCES Classification of Instructional Programs, 2020 edition | The federal definition. For a field family, the longest description in the family. |
| Typical credentials | Which credentials schools in your state offer in this field, and how many programs of each | Programs | Texas: IPEDS completions. Other states: College Scorecard Field-of-Study | Up to six lines, each "credential duration: n programs". Durations are typical, not minimums: about 2 years for an associate's, about 4 for a bachelor's, about 2 more for a master's, 5 to 7 more for a research doctorate, 3 to 4 more for a professional degree, about 1 for a graduate certificate, under a year for most undergraduate certificates. |
| Similar fields offered in your state | Shown instead of Typical credentials when no school in your state offers this exact field | Programs | Samantar's field-similarity list, joined to your state's program records | Up to five related fields, each with its program count and up to three credentials with counts. |
| Careers degree leads to | Jobs graduates of this field commonly hold | Career names | NCES and BLS degree-to-career crosswalk | Every career the crosswalk links to the field. Careers without a name are left out. |
| Your state graduate outcomes for degree (Texas only) | What graduates of each school earned, for the broader field family | Dollars a year | U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, program-level outcomes | Rows for the level you are viewing. Award is the credential in plain words (for example Bachelor's Degree). Median 1y wage and Median 10y wage are median earnings one and ten years after finishing. Graduating class (shown only when at least one row has it) is the size of the latest class; dashes mean it was suppressed for privacy. A missing wage reads Not published (cohort too small) / Privacy-protected; hovering it explains that the College Scorecard hides the figure to protect privacy when too few graduates reported earnings. The table shows the top 50 rows; the footer says Showing top 50 of N undergraduate institutions. (or graduate) when there are more. |
| Median federal loan debt at graduation (College Scorecard): | Typical federal student-loan debt when finishing a program in this field in your state. Private loans are not included. | Dollars | U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, Field-of-Study. The source line names the release the figures were loaded from (for example "October 2026 release"), or no release when it is not recorded. | The median of the programs' median debts, for this exact field or, when that has none, its field family, at schools in your state. The line adds "median across N programs at M state institutions". In Texas it sits inside the graduate outcomes card; elsewhere it stands alone under the universities table. Hidden when no debt is published. |
| Recent your state postings for this degree | A sample of current job postings in careers this degree leads to | Posting counts | Samantar's job postings sample (the card shows Last refreshed date); wages from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May release | Postings broken down By your state metro, By experience level and Top employers, then Careers these graduates landed in. Counts are sample volume, not total hiring. With fewer than 30 postings the card shows a single line saying the sample is too small to break down. |
Read more about how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A parent in Ohio is looking at nursing for a daughter who may study in Pennsylvania.
- From the Degrees list (state: Ohio) the parent clicks the undergraduate nursing card. The page title reads Universities for nursing field in Ohio. The Bachelor's chip is lit because most Ohio schools offer the field as a bachelor's.
- AI Outlook shows one label and a sentence such as "Across N career destinations this degree feeds into, the most common AI outlook is …". Typical credentials lists the credentials Ohio schools offer, with durations and program counts.
- The careers list shows nursing-related careers in A to Z order. The parent clicks one to read its pay in another tab.
- In the universities table, schools are in State Rank order, with dollar figures in Entry Salary, Median Salary and Annual Direct Cost and a Year N in Avg Break-Even. The parent clicks Annual Direct Cost to see the lowest yearly cost first.
- The parent clicks Associate's. The table reloads with the schools that offer the field as an associate's degree, many of them community colleges, each with a shorter break-even.
- Below the table, the debt line gives the median federal loan debt at graduation across Ohio programs in the field.
- To check the Pennsylvania option, the parent switches Showing data for to Pennsylvania and sets Residency (cost basis) to Out-of-state / non-resident. The cost column now uses each school's out-of-state tuition plus living costs; schools that publish no out-of-state tuition show "—".
- For a closer look at one school, the parent clicks Calculate ROI → and finishes in the ROI Calculator.
Common questions
- Why does a cell show "—"?
- The figure is not published or not usable for that school. Cost shows "—" when there is no usable tuition (none, $0, or above $80,000) for the chosen residency. Salaries show "—" when no earnings exist for the field and credential. Ranks show "—" when the school is not in the outside ranking. If every school in a column is "—", the whole column is hidden.
- Why is the table in State Rank order?
- The table opens sorted by State Rank, the published outside ranking. Click Avg Break-Even, Median Salary or Annual Direct Cost to put the table in the order that matters most to you.
- Why didn't the cost change when I switched to out-of-state in Texas?
- In Texas, Annual Direct Cost is the in-state tuition, fees and books figure. Residency there changes the Avg Break-Even year, which uses out-of-state tuition in its simulation. In every other state, residency changes the cost column directly.
- Why is there no graduate outcomes table in my state?
- The school-by-school earnings table is loaded for Texas only. In other states you still get the debt line, salary columns and institution insights, which include median earnings five years after graduating.
- Why don't I see associate's or doctoral schools?
- The table shows one credential at a time. Click the matching Level: chip. If the table then says No universities match the current filters., no school in your state offers that credential in this field, or your Type, city or name filters hide them.
- Why is there no AI Outlook for this degree?
- The rating catalog does not cover every field yet. The box then says a rating is not yet available.
- Why does the Avg Break-Even year differ so much between Texas and other states?
- The two use different methods. Texas runs the ROI Calculator's year-by-year projection with loans, raises and living costs. Other states use a simpler formula: cost over the program, divided by how much more the median graduate earns than a high-school graduate. Compare schools within one state, not across states.
- Why does a school appear here but also on the no-tuition list?
- Outside Texas this table keeps schools that have no usable tuition, showing "—" for cost, so you can still see them. The same schools are listed on Schools with no tuition data.
- Why does a career on the list have no postings?
- The postings card is a small sample of current postings. It covers only part of the market and hides itself when there are none for this degree.
What this does NOT do
- It is not a job board and not an admissions site. You cannot apply to anything here.
- It is not advice. Salaries, costs and break-even years are estimates from past data, not guarantees.
- It stores nothing about you. Sign-in is only for saving reports.
- It does not include financial aid or scholarships in Annual Direct Cost. Use the ROI Calculator for that.
- It does not show school-by-school graduate earnings outside Texas.
- It does not list schools in other states. Switch Showing data for to see them.
- It does not remember your Level, Type or City choices in the page address; a bookmark reopens at the original level.
Related
- Degrees: the list this page opens from.
- ROI Calculator: where Calculate ROI → takes you.
- Compare degrees: where Stack against another degree → takes you.
- Jobs Trends: where Hiring demand for related careers → takes you.
- A career's page: what opens when you click a career.
- Schools with no tuition data: schools without a usable tuition figure.
- One school's programs: every program recorded at one school.
- Open the live page: List Of Degrees (choose a degree to open its page).