What Security Science and Technology Graduates Earn

Median earnings at 1, 4, and 5 years (College Scorecard)

Nothing on this page is a survey response or a recruiter's claim: the $46,138 year-one median and the $61,228 year-five median for Security Science and Technology come from federal earnings records pooled across 225 bachelor's programs. The headline median weights programs by graduates counted (2,504 at year one); the second column is the unweighted median program, printed so the method stays visible.

The trajectory is the story here: $46,138 at year one, $60,464 at year four, $61,228 at year five. That is 33% growth across the window Scorecard measures, worth $15,090 a year by the fifth year. Fields with flat early curves repay debt slowly; this one's curve works in the borrower’s favor.

One more cut of the year-one data: Pell recipients in Security Science and Technology post a median of $45,366, non-recipients $46,822. That $1,456 gap is the distance between two different student populations studying under one field name, and it narrows or widens by institution, which the program table below hints at.

Inside its own CIP family, Security Science and Technology ranks 4 of 5 published bachelor's fields by five-year earnings; the family median at that horizon is $70,475. Its closest sibling is Criminal Justice and Corrections at $57,372, below this field's $61,228. Family comparisons strip out the broad field effect and leave the specific program choice exposed.

Ranked across all 182 published fields, Security Science and Technology stands number 110 by five-year earnings and number 85 by first-year earnings, and number 145 from the lowest median debt. Those three ranks together are the field's fingerprint: high earn rank with a low debt rank is the combination students are actually shopping for, and this field's spread between them is 35 places.

The debt side of the same degree

Debt first, because earnings get the headlines: $23,375 is the median federal loan balance at graduation in Security Science and Technology, pooled from 57 reporting programs. Against year-one earnings of $46,138 that balance is 51% of a year's gross pay, roughly 6.1 months of it. The standard 10-year repayment at 6.52% (the 2026-27 undergraduate Direct Loan rate) runs $266 a month and $8,504 in total interest. Your own balance and rate belong in the student loan payoff calculator; the degree-level verdict belongs in the college ROI calculator and the college major ROI calculator.

Where graduates of this field earn the most

One field, many markets: the five-year median for Security Science and Technology is $61,228 nationally, yet the strongest programs below run far ahead of it. The ranking keeps a 30-graduate floor under every entry, and Champlain College heads the list at $102,483.

High program medians concentrate in high-wage metros and selective intakes, so read $102,483 as a market fact before reading it as a quality verdict. Costs for the same programs are checkable in the degree cost calculator and the net price estimator.

Two more facts about the shape of this field: the five highest-paying programs in the table account for only 15.8% of the 1,976 graduates counted at five years, so the top of the table is a thin slice and not the field's center; and the leading program's five-year median of $102,483 sits 67% above the national field median of $61,228. Its median debt, $28,520, runs above the field median of $23,375, which is the trade a student at the top of this table is actually being offered.