Graduate certificate · Los Angeles, California

Is Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences at University of Southern California 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 3.1 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $208,536; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $149,959; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $145,480; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Typical borrowing (no graduate net price is published): $154k (likely $154k – $154k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $81k a year vs bachelor's graduates 4 years out in CA; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 3.1 years (likely 2.4–4.0); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $482k (likely $297k – $674k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $1.25M (likely $891k – $1.63M); Today's dollars

Scorecard reports no net price for graduate programs; cost is based on what graduates typically borrowed.