Bachelor's degree · Philosophy and religious studies · CIP 38.01
Philosophy: earnings and debt by college
The College Scorecard lists 664 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Philosophy, together awarding 7,102 of these degrees in the most recent year. At the median institution, graduates who received federal aid earn $37,710 one year after finishing and $60,262 five years after finishing (two separate graduating classes). The median institution's graduates leave with $20,000 in federal student loans.
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Compare Philosophy programs on one chart
Pick any two measures. Hover a dot to see the college; click it to open the college's page.
Each dot is one institution's program; branch campuses share their institution's figures and appear as one dot. Dashed lines mark the median for all colleges. Showing 55 of 659; programs missing either value are left out (the Scorecard withholds figures for small programs).
Colleges with a bachelor's in Philosophy
| University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia · Private nonprofit | PA | 193 | $82,195 | $119,618 | $17,750 |
| University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles · Public | CA | 117 | $32,660 | $72,454 | $11,337 |
| University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara · Public | CA | 93 | $38,395 | $71,535 | $11,599 |
| University of California-Berkeley Berkeley · Public | CA | 91 | $37,999 | $52,953 | $12,891 |
| University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle · Public | WA | 88 | $46,234 | $64,700 | $12,775 |
| University of Southern California Los Angeles · Private nonprofit | CA | 84 | $52,079 | $76,819 | $20,500 |
| New York University New York · Private nonprofit | NY | 76 | n/a | $56,727 | n/a |
| University of Maryland-College Park College Park · Public | MD | 75 | $37,367 | $75,078 | $15,138 |
| Boston College Chestnut Hill · Private nonprofit | MA | 71 | $58,101 | $123,546 | $19,000 |
| University of Chicago Chicago · Private nonprofit | IL | 71 | $80,705 | $75,415 | n/a |
| University of Colorado Boulder Boulder · Public | CO | 69 | $40,014 | $90,759 | $15,250 |
| Boston University Boston · Private nonprofit | MA | 67 | $43,896 | $83,061 | $16,750 |
| Arizona State University Digital Immersion Scottsdale · Public | AZ | 65 | $42,728 | $74,363 | $20,000 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison · Public | WI | 57 | $41,092 | $63,718 | $18,504 |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg · Public | VA | 56 | $37,416 | n/a | $21,500 |
| Emory University Atlanta · Private nonprofit | GA | 55 | $56,363 | $74,236 | $14,000 |
| University of California-Davis Davis · Public | CA | 55 | $32,373 | $57,887 | $16,216 |
| Columbia University in the City of New York New York · Private nonprofit | NY | 53 | $49,361 | $65,431 | $23,750 |
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor · Public | MI | 51 | $47,723 | $82,771 | $21,183 |
| University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz · Public | CA | 48 | $33,889 | $53,788 | $15,178 |
| University of Florida Gainesville · Public | FL | 47 | $24,850 | $59,555 | $14,486 |
| Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe · Public | AZ | 46 | $42,728 | $74,363 | $20,000 |
| The University of Texas at Austin Austin · Public | TX | 46 | n/a | $75,899 | $19,956 |
| University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh · Public | PA | 46 | n/a | $52,798 | $21,878 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill · Public | NC | 45 | $43,620 | $82,120 | $13,500 |
| University of California-Irvine Irvine · Public | CA | 42 | $25,468 | $74,171 | $14,436 |
| Franciscan University of Steubenville Steubenville · Private nonprofit | OH | 37 | $28,723 | $52,351 | $21,750 |
| University of Notre Dame Notre Dame · Private nonprofit | IN | 37 | $75,466 | n/a | $15,000 |
| Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park · Public | PA | 36 | $39,593 | n/a | $26,552 |
| Tufts University Medford · Private nonprofit | MA | 35 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Tulane University of Louisiana New Orleans · Private nonprofit | LA | 35 | $37,146 | n/a | $22,750 |
| University of Scranton Scranton · Private nonprofit | PA | 35 | $29,514 | $68,172 | $27,000 |
| University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville · Public | VA | 35 | n/a | $77,151 | n/a |
| University of Georgia Athens · Public | GA | 33 | $30,702 | n/a | $19,250 |
| Florida State University Tallahassee · Public | FL | 32 | n/a | $58,777 | $20,137 |
| University of Houston Houston · Public | TX | 32 | n/a | $57,323 | $19,957 |
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo · Public | CA | 31 | $29,855 | n/a | n/a |
| Harvard University Cambridge · Private nonprofit | MA | 31 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| University of California-Riverside Riverside · Public | CA | 31 | $32,349 | $67,456 | $15,944 |
| Loyola University Chicago Chicago · Private nonprofit | IL | 30 | $19,393 | $83,948 | $24,125 |
| University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst · Public | MA | 30 | n/a | $58,107 | n/a |
| University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro · Public | NC | 30 | $41,023 | n/a | $19,535 |
| University of St Thomas Saint Paul · Private nonprofit | MN | 30 | $35,672 | $56,806 | $20,538 |
| William & Mary Williamsburg · Public | VA | 30 | n/a | n/a | $19,500 |
| University of Oregon Eugene · Public | OR | 29 | $26,995 | $55,705 | n/a |
| Brown University Providence · Private nonprofit | RI | 28 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Colgate University Hamilton · Private nonprofit | NY | 28 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Southern Methodist University Dallas · Private nonprofit | TX | 28 | $51,080 | $66,651 | $22,375 |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign · Public | IL | 28 | $34,473 | $48,795 | n/a |
| Cornell University Ithaca · Private nonprofit | NY | 27 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Quick facts: Philosophy
- How many colleges offer a bachelor's degree in Philosophy?
- The College Scorecard lists 664 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Philosophy.
- How much do Philosophy graduates earn?
- Across institutions, the median of graduates' median earnings is $37,710 one year after graduation (85 institutions reporting) and $60,262 five years after graduation (94 institutions reporting). These figures cover graduates who received federal aid and are working and not enrolled in school. Branch campuses share their institution's figures, so each institution counts once.
- Where do Philosophy graduates earn the most five years after graduation?
- By reported median earnings five years after graduation: Boston College ($123,546), University of Pennsylvania ($119,618), University of Colorado Boulder ($90,759), Fordham University ($88,781), and Loyola University Chicago ($83,948).
- How much student debt do Philosophy graduates have?
- The median institution's Philosophy graduates leave with $20,000 in federal student loans (72 institutions reporting). Parent PLUS and private loans are not included.
- Which colleges award the most Philosophy degrees?
- By bachelor's degrees awarded in the most recent year: University of Pennsylvania (193), University of California-Los Angeles (117), University of California-Santa Barbara (93), University of California-Berkeley (91), and University of Washington-Seattle Campus (88).
Related majors in philosophy and religious studies
How these numbers work
Figures cover bachelor's degree programs in Philosophy (CIP code 38.01), as reported in the College Scorecard. Earnings are medians for graduates who received federal aid, measured one and five years after they finished, among those working and not enrolled in school; the one-year and five-year figures describe different graduating classes. Debt is the median federal loan balance at graduation. The Scorecard withholds figures for programs with few graduates, so many smaller programs show n/a. Summary figures are medians across institutions: the Scorecard reports program earnings and debt for a whole institution, so branch campuses share one figure and count once. All figures are from the Scorecard's most recent field-of-study release. More on the data.