Boston College International Studies (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in International/Globalization Studies
- Private nonprofit college
- Chestnut Hill, MA
- About 90 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Boston College international studies graduates earn more than graduates of most international studies programs nationally, $51,371 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $19,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $22,233. One other Massachusetts program reports higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Massachusetts and national columns are the medians across all international studies bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Boston College graduates earn more than the national figure and about $5,662 more than the Massachusetts median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Massachusetts international studies program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Massachusetts 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 58% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $2,559 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $201 a month, or 4.7% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
34% of graduates (20 of 58) were working in Massachusetts one year after graduating. Prices in the Boston area are about 8% above the national average, so a $51,371 salary here buys what about $47,449 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 international studies, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Political Scientists
$133,930Median pay in Massachusetts. 170 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 400 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Boston College
International Studies ranks 13th of 24 bachelor's programs at Boston College by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($86,749), Finance ($82,495), and Information Science ($80,731).
Other international studies bachelor's programs near Chestnut Hill
Common questions
The median graduate earns $51,371 one year after graduating and $81,227 five years after. The median across international studies bachelor's programs in Massachusetts is $46,530.
The median federal loan balance is $19,000, which ranks the lowest of 5 international studies bachelor's programs in Massachusetts. That works out to about $201 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 37% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 69%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less.
Many leave. 34% (20 of 58) were working in Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts 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 international studies 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