Athens State Computer and Information Science (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Computer and Information Sciences, General
- Public university
- Athens, AL
- About 20 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Athens State computer and information science graduates earn more than graduates of most computer and information science programs nationally, $78,435 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $31,060 in federal loans, more than at 91% of computer and information science programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying computer and information science degrees in Alabama.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Alabama and national columns are the medians across all computer and information science bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Athens State graduates earn about the national figure and about the same as the Alabama median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Alabama computer and information science program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Alabama medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 15% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $329 a month, or 5.0% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
97% of graduates (33 of 34) were working in Alabama one year after graduating. Prices in the Huntsville area are about 7% below the national average, so a $78,435 salary here buys what about $84,273 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to computer and information science, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Software Developers
$122,540Median pay in Alabama. 17,450 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 95,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Computer and Information Systems Managers
$138,670Median pay in Alabama. 7,670 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 16% from 2025 to 2035, with about 53,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Computer Systems Analysts
$101,770Median pay in Alabama. 6,560 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Network and Computer Systems Administrators
$81,400Median pay in Alabama. 5,040 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Athens State
Computer and Information Science ranks 1st of 15 bachelor's programs at Athens State by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer and Information Science ($78,435), Other Business ($63,754), and Mathematics ($57,584).
Other computer and information science bachelor's programs near Athens
Common questions
The median graduate earns $78,435 one year after graduating and $90,135 five years after. The median across computer and information science bachelor's programs in Alabama is $66,448.
The median federal loan balance is $31,060, which ranks 11th lowest of 12 computer and information science bachelor's programs in Alabama. That works out to about $329 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 40% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 40%.
Most do. 97% (33 of 34) were working in Alabama one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Alabama comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the computer and information science program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024