Physical sciences

Physical Sciences

Washington State University · Pullman, WA

Medium evidenceMatched peers12 institutions · related subjectsSee the evidence

The degree in numbers

Cost & earnings.

Annual tuition$29,073Institution-level tuition; programme fees may differ · before aid
Grouped debt estimate$23,938Related subjects at 12 matched peer institutions · bachelor's
Annual credentials awarded9Average of available recent award years; not the earnings sample size.

Earnings context

One career stage.
A clearer comparison.

USD · Bachelor's · 1 year after completion
Same source release. National references exclude this degree.

Selected degree estimate$45,222
Physical sciences · national$39,009

Behind the number

Your comparison group.

Medium evidence

Related subjects at 12 matched peer institutions · bachelor's

Grouped estimate. Middle half of comparison values: $36,859–$48,530.

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 · 1 year after completion
Institution & subjectReported earnings
University of Nevada-RenoPhysics$46,087
Boise State UniversityPhysics$24,035
Sam Houston State UniversityPhysics$31,305
Montclair State UniversityChemistry$48,823
Montana State UniversityChemistry$38,289
Western Carolina UniversityChemistry$32,569
University of Massachusetts-LowellChemistry$50,231
Illinois State UniversityChemistry, Physics$41,469
University of Wisconsin-WhitewaterPhysics$57,318
The University of Texas at ArlingtonChemistry$48,432
University of North Carolina at CharlottePhysics$44,356
Temple UniversityPhysics$46,478
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 ↗