Student Loan Debt by Major 2026: Which Degrees Pay Off and Which Don't

Updated June 21, 2026

Which Majors Pay Off Their Debt — And Which Bury Their Graduates

The highest reported debt in higher education does not belong to law students or surgeons. New PhDs in Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration carry a median balance of $322,885, per educationdata.org's 2026 dataset. Osteopathic medicine (DO) graduates follow at $299,461. Those numbers attach to licensed professions with six-figure salary floors, so the math usually works — but only if the graduate finishes the credential and the licensing exam, both of which fail at non-trivial rates. The debt that quietly wrecks finances sits one tier down — on bachelor's degrees in fields whose starting salaries can't cover the standard 10-year payoff.

The truly punishing numbers sit lower on the credential ladder, where the salary safety net disappears. Among new bachelor's graduates, Curriculum and Instruction majors carry the highest median debt at $46,820. Behavioral Sciences sits at $44,554, and Engineering-Related Technologies at $41,308. These figures rival the debt of someone heading into a six-figure tech salary, but they attach to careers that start in the $40,000s.

A new graduate with $46,820 in federal Direct Loans at 6.39% owes roughly $528 per month on a standard 10-year repayment plan. On a starting teacher salary near $44,000, that's 14.4% of gross monthly income — above the 12% ceiling (https://www.earnest.com/) and (https://www.salliemae.com/) both flag as the affordability danger line. For a first-year teacher carrying the average new education-major debt load, the math runs underwater before they've paid rent.

The pattern repeats one tier up. Bachelor's graduates in Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research carry debt equal to 154.1% of their first-year earnings (educationdata.org) — meaning they owe more than 18 months of pre-tax pay before a single deduction. International and Comparative Education clocks in at 26.1%, which still strains the standard repayment formula at today's 6.39% rate.

Freshmen entering school this fall face worse math than the cohort ahead of them. Federal undergraduate Direct Loans price at 6.52% for 2026-27, graduate unsubsidized loans at 7.94%, and Direct PLUS loans at 8.94%, per Federal Student Aid's rate disclosure. The same $43,000 average projected debt for the incoming class will cost about $5,800 more over a 10-year payoff than it would have at the rates the Class of 2022 borrowed under.

That hidden inflation tax falls hardest on majors that lack a salary cushion. A nursing or computer science graduate absorbs a 13-basis-point rate hike inside a $70,000-plus starting salary. A behavioral sciences graduate absorbs it on a $42,000 salary that may not even be the job they trained for.

Bachelor's Degrees: High Debt vs. High Earnings

The earning side of the equation is where the 2026 numbers reshape the picture. Engineering graduates in the Class of 2026 average a starting salary of $81,198, up 3.1% from a year earlier (NACE Class of 2026 Salary Projections). Computer science majors edge slightly higher at $81,535, growing 6.9% year over year — the fastest of any major.

Inside engineering, the spread is wider than most prospective students realize.

Source: NACE Class of 2026 Salary Projections; NY Fed Labor Market for Recent College Graduates.

The petroleum number deserves a second look. Mid-career bachelor's earnings in that field reach $146,000 ((https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/major-payoff/)). Compounded against the $74,184 math-and-sciences average over a 30-year career, the differential clears $400,000 in additional lifetime earnings — before any retirement contributions or raises. That gap is functionally a larger financial choice than the loans themselves.

The high-debt, high-earning combination is genuinely workable. A petroleum engineering graduate with the national-average $29,550 in loans owes about $333 per month at 6.39% — under 4% of gross income on a $100,000 starting salary. Even a graduate carrying the high-end $43,000 projected balance lands at roughly $486 per month, or 5.8% of gross. Both clear the 8–12% safe band with room to spare.

Behavioral Sciences graduates, by contrast, carry $44,554 in median debt against starting salaries that typically land in the $45,000–$50,000 range. That's a monthly payment near $503 against gross monthly income around $3,750 — over 13% of gross, before taxes, rent, or any retirement saving. The major is not the problem; the debt-to-income ratio is.

The Debt-to-Income Sweet Spot: Majors That Pay Off

The clearest signal in the 2026 data is not "high salary" or "low debt" in isolation — it's the ratio between them. The Bachelor's of Nuclear Engineering Technologies carries a median debt that equals just 16.4% of first-year earnings, the lowest ratio of any undergraduate major tracked (educationdata.org). Operations Research runs at 17.3%.

That ratio matters because of the 8–12% rule: financial planners broadly agree that monthly student loan payments should consume between 8% and 12% of gross monthly income at repayment. A debt-to-first-year-income ratio under roughly 80% translates, at current 6.39% rates on a 10-year payoff, to a monthly payment inside that safe band.

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Source: educationdata.org Student Loan Debt by Major 2026.

Nursing is the standout pragmatic winner. The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) carries a debt-to-income ratio around 57%, but the field has the lowest underemployment rate of any major at 12.8% (NY Fed, Q1 2026). That second number is the one most rankings miss. Nursing graduates not only find work — they find work in their field, immediately, and the credential is portable to every metro area in the country.

Compare that to the headline numbers for performing arts and criminal justice majors, where underemployment runs at 64–66% ((https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market)). Two out of three recent graduates in those fields are working jobs that do not require their degree — meaning the "starting salary" most rankings cite is for a job they did not need to borrow $30,000 to qualify for.

The recent-college-graduate unemployment rate hit 5.7% in Q1 2026, above the national average ((https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market)). That softer entry-level market is narrowing the wage premium for grads in low-return on investment (ROI) majors faster than at any point in the past decade.

Hidden Winners: Low-Debt Majors With Surprising Stability

Not every winner sits at the top of the salary tables. Some of the cleanest financial outcomes belong to majors that simply cost very little to enter.

Among bachelor's degrees, Science Technologies graduates carry a median debt of just $9,915 — roughly one-third of the national average (educationdata.org). The starting salaries are not glamorous, typically in the $45,000–$60,000 range, but the debt service runs about $112 per month. That payment is invisible inside even a modest salary, leaving room for retirement contributions, an emergency fund, and a normal life from year one.

Recommended reading: Emergency fund

The associate-degree path is even more compelling for students willing to skip the four-year route. Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering at the associate level carries a median debt of $6,897 — and graduates step into manufacturing-floor and industrial-automation roles starting in the high $40,000s to low $50,000s. The debt-to-income math is decisive: monthly payments under $80 against $4,000-plus in monthly gross.

This is the major-school-tier interaction that surface-level rankings miss. A psychology degree from a state school in Cleveland and an English degree from an Ivy in Manhattan carry roughly the same $43,000 debt load. But the Ivy English graduate has access to consulting and finance recruiting pipelines that the Cleveland psychology graduate does not. Over a 20-year horizon, the same debt loses six figures of net present value for one and clears six figures of premium for the other — and the difference traces to school tier and metro wage market, not the major name on the diploma.

The point is not that everyone should skip a four-year degree. It is that the credential premium for many bachelor's programs has narrowed enough — and the cost has risen enough — that the math now favors targeted, lower-cost paths for students whose career interests align with technical, healthcare, or trade-adjacent fields. Early-career savings capacity is the single largest predictor of midlife financial stability — every dollar not committed to loan service in the first decade compounds inside a Roth IRA at the rates that drive real retirement outcomes.

How to Choose a Major Without Financial Regret

The decision framework comes down to three numbers a prospective student can pull in 20 minutes.

1. Look up your major's median debt. The educationdata.org Student Loan Debt by Major 2026 report lists median debt for nearly every major at the bachelor's, associate, and graduate levels. Use the median, not the average — the average is skewed upward by long-tail heavy borrowers.

2. Look up the realistic starting salary. The NY Fed's Labor Market for Recent College Graduates page reports starting salaries and underemployment rates by major Adjust accordingly.

3. Calculate the debt-to-first-year-income ratio. Divide step 1 by step 2. If the ratio exceeds 80%, monthly payments at today's 6.39% rates will breach the 8–12% safe-payment band on a standard 10-year repayment. Anything over 120% means the math does not work without either income-driven repayment, forgiveness programs, or borrowing significantly less than the median.

Concrete actions, in priority order:

• Borrow at the federal level only. Federal Direct Loans cap at $5,500–$7,500 per year for dependent undergraduates. That cap is a feature, not a flaw — it forces the debt-to-income math to stay in workable territory. Private loans bypass this protection. - If the major requires graduate school to be employable (psychology, biology, most humanities), price the full pathway, not just the bachelor's. A bachelor's that requires a $200,000 PhD to clear $60,000 is a high-debt major in disguise. - Use the 8–12% rule as a hard constraint. Run the projected monthly payment at 6.39% on a 10-year standard repayment. If it lands above 12% of expected gross monthly income, the major is too expensive at that school. Switch the school, switch the major, or reduce the borrow. - Treat geography as part of the major. Some major, different metro, different salary. A computer science graduate makes 35% more in San Francisco than in Cleveland — but cost of living eats most of that. The wage-to-cost-of-living ratio in Austin, Raleigh, and Minneapolis often beats both. - Re-run the math every year. Federal rates have moved twice in the past 18 months. The 2026–27 rate of 6.52% changes the breakeven calculation by enough to matter on borderline majors.

The 2026 SAVE plan repeal removed the most generous income-driven repayment option for new borrowers, and the replacement plans use a stricter formula. That regulatory shift makes major choice more consequential, not less — there is less of a safety net for graduates who picked a low-ROI major and assumed forgiveness would catch them.

The data to avoid the worst outcomes is freely available, and the rule of thumb is simple: borrow no more than your projected first-year salary, and keep monthly payments under 12% of gross income. Before signing any loan paperwork this fall, pull your major's median debt from educationdata.org, divide it by the NY Fed's first-year salary for that field, and run the ratio. If it exceeds 80%, switch the school, switch the major, or cut the borrow. The students who do that almost never become the cautionary tales.

Sources

1. Educationdata.org, Student Loan Debt by Major 2026, https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-by-major
2. National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), Class of 2026 Salary Projections, https://www.naceweb.org/job-market/compensation/class-of-2026-salary-projections-are-promising
3. Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW), Explore Our ROI Rankings, February 2026, https://cew.georgetown.edu/explore-our-roi-rankings/
4. Georgetown CEW, The Major Payoff: Evaluating Earnings and Employment Outcomes Across Bachelor's Degrees, https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/major-payoff/
5. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates, Q1 2026, https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market
6. Federal Student Aid, Interest Rates and Fees for Federal Student Loans, May 2026, https://studentaid.gov/
7. CNBC, Class of 2026 Projected Average Student Loan Debt, April 2026, https://www.cnbc.com/
8. Bank rate, Federal Student Loan Interest Rates 2025–26 and 2026–27, May 2026, https://www.bankrate.com/

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Found an error? At Canopy Press, accuracy comes first. If you spot a claim that needs checking, let us know at [email protected] — we'll verify and correct it immediately.

Sources

• Non Profit Credit Counseling Services | Get Out of Debt | NFCC
• Student Loan Debt by Major [2026]: Highest + Lowest Average Debt
• New America - Big Ideas and Bold Solutions
• Salaries Expected to Climb for Class of 2026 Grads Despite Flat Hiring (NACE)
• Class of 2026 Salary Projections Are Promising (NACE)
• Explore Our ROI Rankings — CEW Georgetown (Feb 2026, 4,600 colleges)
• The Major Payoff: Evaluating Earnings and Employment Outcomes Across Bachelor's Degrees — CEW Georgetown
• The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates — Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• Federal Student Aid — Loan Interest Rates (studentaid.gov)
• Student loan interest rates in May 2026 — Bankrate