Master's · Carbondale, Illinois
Is Social Work at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale worth it?
High confidence High confidence: 100+ graduates behind the earnings figures.
The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans
Graduates typically don't earn back the cost within 20 years, compared with the no-degree baseline.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $53,986
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $58,217
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $25,189
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Typical borrowing (no graduate net price is published)
- $27k (likely $27k – $27k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- −$7k a year vs bachelor's graduates 4 years out in IL
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- Not within 20 years in most scenarios
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- −$258k (likely −$316k – −$201k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- −$321k (likely −$433k – −$202k)
- Today's dollars
- 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 Social Work at other schools
Scorecard reports no net price for graduate programs; cost is based on what graduates typically borrowed.
Other majors at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
- Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions (First professional)$148,552
- Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions (Master's)$125,336
- Fire Protection (Bachelor's)$108,135
- Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians (Master's)$107,455
- Medicine (First professional)$107,267
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's)$103,860
- Air Transportation (Associate's)$103,606
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$91,299
- Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians (Bachelor's)$87,442
- Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's)$86,238
- Computer Engineering (Bachelor's)$85,056
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's)$83,853
Social Work at other schools in Illinois
- University of Chicago$71,980
- Erikson Institute$66,121
- University of Illinois Chicago$65,915
- Chicago State University$65,619
- Loyola University Chicago$65,097
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign$64,120
- Dominican University$63,207
- Governors State University$62,482
- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville$62,412
- Chamberlain University-Illinois$62,256