Bachelor's · Fullerton, California

Is Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering at California State University-Fullerton worth it?

Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 graduates behind the earnings figures.

The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans

Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 0.7 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $85,815; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $99,483; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $21,885; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Net cost to graduate, all families: $22k (likely $22k – $30k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $59k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 0.7 years (likely 0.5–0.9); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $391k (likely $290k – $501k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $1.09M (likely $866k – $1.38M); Today's dollars
Odds of finishing (school-wide): 68%; Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26