Bachelor's · Berkeley, California
Is Philosophy at University of California-Berkeley 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 in time: graduates typically recover the cost in about 4.2 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $40,816
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $68,020
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $12,208
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $62k (likely $62k – $66k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $28k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 4.2 years (likely 3.5–5.5)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $20k (likely −$57k – $90k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $372k (likely $203k – $554k)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 94%
- Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Borrowers making progress / in default, 2 years in
- not reported / ≤ 20%
- NSLDS AY2016-17, AY2017-18 pooled cohorts measured in 2018-19, 2019-20
Change income, residency or loans Compare Philosophy at other schools
Other majors at University of California-Berkeley
- Law (First professional)$226,996
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (First professional)$226,351
- Information Science/Studies (First professional)$209,391
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$204,379
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's)$200,543
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's)$191,069
- Physics (Doctoral)$177,589
- Chemistry (Doctoral)$168,396
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$162,352
- Mechanical Engineering (Master's)$147,475
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's)$144,599
- Mechanical Engineering (First professional)$140,788
Philosophy at other schools in California
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo$98,592
- University of California-Santa Barbara$71,796
- California State University-Sacramento$65,115
- University of California-Los Angeles$61,754
- University of California-Davis$58,633
- San Diego State University$53,390
- California State University-Los Angeles$53,127
- University of Southern California$51,831
- University of California-Riverside$51,402
- University of California-Santa Cruz$51,398