Grand Total, All Reporting Institutions
Doctor's Degree
Wage Outcomes


The doctor of philosophy is generally the terminal degree for any field of study. It is thus unsuprising that that the data shows no doctoral completers having enrolled in higher level of studies the following year. This does not mean that there are no graduates that did enroll in other levels of study, such as in professional degrees, just that we did not track that in these data as the numbers are quite small.

It is also not surprising that we have no information on the bulk of the graduates of doctoral programs compete in the national marketplace.



Wage Outcomes, 2020 Calendar Year
Grand Total, All Reporting Institutions, Doctor's Degree
Earnings in 2020Median WagePercentage of Graduates w/ Reported Wage
20 Years (1999-00 Graduates) $101,74916%
15 Years (2004-05 Graduates) $98,45022%
10 Years (2009-10 Graduates) $93,30528%
8 Years (2011-12 Graduates) $89,56825%
5 Years (2014-15 Graduates) $82,67525%
3 Years (2016-17 Graduates) $75,72827%
18 Months (2018-19 Graduates) $69,67629%
Only years/programs meeting disclosure rules will be displayed to protect individual confidentiality.

Wages in 2020
Years Post-Completion10th Percentile25th PercentileMedian75th Percentile90th Percentile
80% of graduates with full-time wages fall within this range
20 Years (1999-00 Graduates) $34,734$73,318$101,749$156,555$258,545
15 Years (2004-05 Graduates) $30,349$66,359$98,450$137,731$188,855
10 Years (2009-10 Graduates) $35,502$67,885$93,305$123,483$176,652
8 Years (2011-12 Graduates) $43,211$67,781$89,568$122,170$169,775
5 Years (2014-15 Graduates) $31,220$60,107$82,675$110,702$154,418
3 Years (2016-17 Graduates) $30,250$57,726$75,728$100,804$135,733
18 Months (2018-19 Graduates) $30,219$51,084$69,676$97,121$132,387

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 Doctor's Degree Level, 2020 Median Wages Three Years Post-Completion
InstitutionProgram TitleMedian Wage
Liberty UniversityEducational Leadership and Administration, General (130401)$63,540
Shenandoah UniversityPhysical Therapy/Therapist. (512308)$81,578
Liberty UniversityTheology/Theological Studies (390601)$49,296
Regent UniversityOrganizational Behavior Studies (521003)$78,242
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityPhysical Therapy/Therapist. (512308)$71,394
Liberty UniversityCurriculum and Instruction (130301)$54,734
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityNurse Anesthetist (513804)$172,120
University of LynchburgPhysical Therapy/Therapist. (512308)$72,899
Old Dominion UniversityPhysical Therapy/Therapist. (512308)$73,643
George Mason UniversityEducation, General (130101)$87,545

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
Doctor's Degree
Student Loans



Known Debt at Graduation of Student Borrowers
Year% of grads25th PercentileMedianEstimated Payment on Median DebtMean75th Percentile
2017-1844%$37,911$64,477$742$73,198$101,866
2018-1942%$41,000$68,579$789$75,685$101,548
2019-2041%$38,977$69,275$797$75,930$104,776
2020-2145%$41,000$68,061$783$76,929$104,000
2021-2248%$41,000$65,061$749$74,673$97,390

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.


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