Christopher Newport University Sociology (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Sociology
- Public university
- Newport News, VA
- About 48 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Christopher Newport University sociology graduates earn about what sociology graduates earn nationally, $36,977 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $25,548 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,000. Several Virginia programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Virginia and national columns are the medians across all sociology bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Christopher Newport University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $5,002 more than the Virginia median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Virginia sociology program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Virginia 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.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $271 a month, or 8.8% 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
88% of graduates (52 of 59) were working in Virginia one year after graduating. Prices in the Virginia Beach area are about 2% below the national average, so a $36,977 salary here buys what about $37,754 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 sociology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Social Science Research Assistants
$53,260Median pay in Virginia. 700 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Sociologists
$106,030Median pay nationwide. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 200 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Christopher Newport University
Sociology ranks 7th of 14 bachelor's programs at Christopher Newport University by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($72,128), Information Science ($58,550), and Business Administration ($54,432).
Other sociology bachelor's programs near Newport News
Common questions
The median graduate earns $36,977 one year after graduating and $58,418 five years after. The median across sociology bachelor's programs in Virginia is $37,946.
The median federal loan balance is $25,548, which ranks 7th lowest of 11 sociology bachelor's programs in Virginia. That works out to about $271 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 69% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 72%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Virginia programs report higher pay.
Most do. 88% (52 of 59) were working in Virginia 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 Virginia 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 sociology 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