Higher Ed Info for Virginia

Grand Total, All Reporting Institutions
Four-Year Bachelor's Degree
Wage Outcomes

The four-year bachelor degree serves a variety of purposes. A degree at this level is designed to demonstrate that the graduate has a broad and general education, combined with a focus on a subject of interest. In the liberal arts and sciences, the area of focus serves to engage the student's interest while sharpening their skills of analysis, inquiry, and communication (among others) while providing a background for further study. In many programs, graduate or professional study beyond the bachelor degree is the primary goal.

Other programs may be preparation for a non-academic career following graduation. Business, engineering, and teacher preparation programs are traditional examples of these.

Grand Total, All Reporting Institutions, Four-Year Bachelor's Degree
Earnings in 2018	Median Wage	Percentage of Graduates w/ Reported Wage
10 Years (2007-08 graduates)	$59,537	39%
8 Years (2009-10 graduates)	$56,066	40%
5 Years (2012-13 graduates)	$50,439	41%
3 Years (2014-15 graduates)	$45,738	42%
18 Months (2016-17 graduates)	$36,313	46%

Only years/programs meeting disclosure rules will be displayed to protect individual confidentiality.

Wages in 2018
Years Post-Completion	10th Percentile	25th Percentile	Median	75th Percentile	90th Percentile
	80% of graduates with full-time wages fall within this range
10 Years (2007-08 graduates)	$27,698	$42,942	$59,537	$88,514	$123,585
8 Years (2009-10 graduates)	$25,790	$40,947	$56,066	$80,473	$111,135
5 Years (2012-13 graduates)	$22,382	$36,389	$50,439	$69,110	$92,725
3 Years (2014-15 graduates)	$17,728	$30,716	$45,738	$61,506	$80,257
18 Months (2016-17 graduates)	$12,288	$21,861	$36,313	$53,169	$69,192

As reminder, the median value represents the very middle value of the sample of values (wage or debt) sorted from low to high. This value is found in the middle line of the barcharts.
The remaining values in the chart are constructed similarly, to display how wages and earnings are distributed. Thus, while the median tells us the middle wage, the values for the 25th and 75th percentiles tell us that half of the graduates with wages fall between those two values. Likewise, 80% of reported wages fall between the 10th and 90th percentiles. The length of each bar section clue to the dispersion in the data - that is, how much earnings can vary within a range a group of individuals.

Top 10 Largest Programs at Four-Year Bachelor's Degree Level, Median Wages 18-months Post-Completion
Institution	Program Title	Median Wage
University of Virginia	Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies (240101)	$38,294
Liberty University	Criminal Justice/Safety Studies (430104)	$40,214
Virginia Commonwealth University	Psychology, General (420101)	$26,120
Liberty University	Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse (513801)	$60,838
James Madison University	Speech Communication and Rhetoric (090101)	$33,636
James Madison University	Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling (511504)	$22,653
Virginia Commonwealth University	Biology/Biological Sciences, General (260101)	$21,805
Virginia Tech	Mechanical Engineering (141901)	$62,746
University of Virginia	Business/Commerce, General (520101)	$70,050
George Mason University	Criminal Justice/Police Science (430107)	$37,135

NOTE: Fewer than 10 programs may be displayed if they disclosure rules for providing wage outcome data are not met.
Top 25 Programs by Enrollment
Top 25 Programs by Degrees Awarded

Graduate Debt
Four-Year Bachelor's Degree
Student Loans

Known Debt at Graduation of Student Borrowers
Year	% of grads	25th Percentile	Median	Estimated Payment on Median Debt	Mean	75th Percentile
2014-15	63%	$18,250	$26,974	$286	$29,267	$36,500
2015-16	62%	$18,342	$26,929	$286	$29,822	$37,332
2016-17	62%	$17,690	$26,720	$283	$29,974	$37,393
2017-18	62%	$17,740	$26,720	$283	$30,014	$37,104
2018-19	61%	$17,500	$26,716	$283	$30,237	$37,000

Note: The four-year bachelor’s degree mean and median debt levels reported on this site may differ from that reported by individual institutions. Many institutions report indebtedness based on the Common Data Set definition, which limits the indebtedness level reported to include only those students who entered the institution as first-time in college (FTIC) students. The inclusion of graduates who entered as transfer students may tend to lower the overall mean or median debt level because it does not include any debt that transfer students acquired while attending previous institutions outside Virginia and relatively few transfers from Virginia’s two-year colleges incur debt prior to transfer. Repayment estimates assume a standard 10-year repayment rate, and a 5% interest rate for undegraduate loans (for which multiple interest rates exist) and 6.8% for graduate and professional programs. Borrowers with federal loans may be eligible for Income Driven Repayment, which may result in lower payments.