Bachelor's · La Jolla, California
Is Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering at University of California-San Diego worth it?
High confidence High confidence: 100+ 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 1.4 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $94,628
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $126,907
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $15,648
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $63k (likely $63k – $67k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $87k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 1.4 years (likely 1.3–1.6)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $596k (likely $509k – $687k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $1.60M (likely $1.38M – $1.86M)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 86%
- 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 / ≤ 10%
- NSLDS AY2016-17, AY2017-18 pooled cohorts measured in 2018-19, 2019-20
Change income, residency or loans Compare Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering at other schools
Other majors at University of California-San Diego
- Computer Science (Master's)$231,397
- Computer and Information Sciences, General (Master's)$201,287
- Computer Engineering (Master's)$173,180
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$169,987
- Physics (Doctoral)$166,997
- Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration (Doctoral)$165,543
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$159,487
- Engineering, Other (Master's)$158,915
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's)$149,271
- Computer Engineering (Bachelor's)$149,139
- Neurobiology and Neurosciences (Doctoral)$148,833
- Health and Medical Administrative Services (Master's)$145,693
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering at other schools in California
- University of California-Berkeley$200,543
- University of Southern California$131,532
- University of California-Los Angeles$126,209
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo$125,240
- University of California-Santa Cruz$118,290
- University of California-Santa Barbara$117,215
- Sonoma State University$112,757
- San Francisco State University$112,454
- University of San Diego$110,314
- California State University-Fresno$108,038