Cleveland State Civil Engineering (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Civil Engineering
- Public university
- Cleveland, OH
- About 66 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Cleveland State civil engineering graduates earn less than graduates of most civil engineering programs nationally, $66,295 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $29,750 in federal loans, more than at 94% of civil engineering programs in the country. Several Ohio programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Ohio and national columns are the medians across all civil engineering bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Cleveland State graduates earn less than the national figure and about $4,473 less than the Ohio median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio civil engineering program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Ohio 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 10% 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 more in their first year than other graduates. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $315 a month, or 5.7% 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
97% of graduates (38 of 39) were working in Ohio one year after graduating. Prices in the Cleveland area are about 6% below the national average, so a $66,295 salary here buys what about $70,584 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 civil engineering, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Civil Engineers
$96,220Median pay in Ohio. 10,560 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 22,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Architectural and Engineering Managers
$166,870Median pay in Ohio. 9,690 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Environmental Engineers
$113,180Median pay in Ohio. 730 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 2,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Petroleum Engineers
$99,260Median pay in Ohio. 200 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Cleveland State
Civil Engineering ranks 6th of 43 bachelor's programs at Cleveland State by first-year earnings. The top three are Chemical Engineering ($69,043), Electrical Engineering ($68,875), and Computer Engineering ($68,852).
Other civil engineering bachelor's programs near Cleveland
Common questions
The median graduate earns $66,295 one year after graduating and $72,837 five years after. The median across civil engineering bachelor's programs in Ohio is $68,080.
The median federal loan balance is $29,750, which ranks 10th lowest of 10 civil engineering bachelor's programs in Ohio. That works out to about $315 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 45% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 35%. Compare the cost with other Ohio programs before deciding.
Most do. 97% (38 of 39) were working in Ohio 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 Ohio 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 civil engineering 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