Area & cultural studies

Area Studies

University of California-Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz, CA

Medium evidenceMatched peers12 institutions · same subjectSee the evidence

The degree in numbers

Cost & earnings.

Annual tuition$45,337Institution-level tuition; programme fees may differ · before aid
Grouped debt estimate$22,875Same subject at 12 matched peer institutions · bachelor's
Annual credentials awarded6Average of available recent award years; not the earnings sample size.

Earnings context

One career stage.
A clearer comparison.

USD · Bachelor's · 2 years after completion
Same source release. National references exclude this degree.

Selected degree estimate$31,176
Same subject · national$32,569
Area & cultural studies · national$30,589

Behind the number

Your comparison group.

Medium evidence

Same subject at 12 matched peer institutions · bachelor's

Grouped estimate. Middle half of comparison values: $26,190–$32,747.

Historical earnings archive. College Scorecard legacy FOS archive (file dated 2022-01-19; cohorts vary). Do not interpret this as today's graduate salary. Further study and career changes are not modelled by this early-career figure.

Bachelor's outcomes · 2 years after completion
Institution & subjectReported earnings
University of California-RiversideArea Studies$24,615
Florida International UniversityArea Studies$13,702
Rutgers University-New BrunswickArea Studies$26,715
State University of New York at New PaltzArea Studies$31,038
University of Hawaii at ManoaArea Studies$33,281
California State University-Long BeachArea Studies$31,314
University of Maryland-Baltimore CountyArea Studies$27,476
University of Missouri-ColumbiaArea Studies$34,298
The University of AlabamaArea Studies$39,909
Pennsylvania State University-Main CampusArea Studies$17,396
Ramapo College of New JerseyArea Studies$32,569
University of Wisconsin-Eau ClaireArea Studies$31,848
How matching & uncertainty work

We first look for the same subject code (or exact subject name), qualification, country, currency, source release and earnings horizon. Peer institutions are matched using admissions selectivity, completion rates, undergraduate size and institution type, with a small preference for the same region. These are institutional proxies, not a ranking of programme quality.

If subject-matched peers are sparse, we try related subjects at closely matched universities, related degrees at this university, then an explicitly labelled national reference. We never multiply a salary by a university prestige score.

Peer and national estimates give each reporting institution one vote, after taking the median of its related programmes. Shared branch-campus outcomes count once. The middle-half range describes variation between reporting institutions. It is not an individual salary range or a statistical confidence interval.

Evidence labels describe match quality and coverage, not validated prediction accuracy. Admissions and size are undergraduate institutional measures, so graduate-degree comparisons are especially approximate.

Historical cohort outcomes are not promised salaries or a causal effect of attending this programme. College Scorecard earnings cover eligible federal-aid recipients, not every graduate or international student. Source definitions ↗