Is a Systems Engineering degree worth it?
Across 7 schools, graduates of Systems Engineering earn a median $103,877 five years out on $19,750 of debt — most often working as Industrial Engineers. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$103,877
Median debt
$19,750
Years to pay off
1.8
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
54%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+7.1%
BLS 2024–2034
Net price
$17,248/yr
Debt-test failures
0%
of programs
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Systems Engineering in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.