Colorado State Computer and Information Science (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Computer and Information Sciences, General
- Public university
- Fort Collins, CO
- About 200 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Colorado State computer and information science graduates earn more than graduates of most computer and information science programs nationally, $78,856 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $23,250 in federal loans, close to the national median of $24,750. It is one of the higher-paying computer and information science degrees in Colorado.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Colorado and national columns are the medians across all computer and information science bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Colorado State graduates earn more than the national figure and about $26,197 more than the Colorado median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Colorado computer and information science program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Colorado 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 54% 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 $4,238 less in their first year than other graduates. They also borrowed more. 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 $246 a month, or 3.7% 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. Separately, 35 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $32,546.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
87% of graduates (125 of 144) were working in Colorado one year after graduating. Prices in the Fort Collins area are about 1% above the national average, so a $78,856 salary here buys what about $77,976 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
$138,390Median pay in Colorado. 43,320 people work in this job in Colorado. 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
$199,420Median pay in Colorado. 11,510 people work in this job in Colorado. 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
$127,750Median pay in Colorado. 6,230 people work in this job in Colorado. 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
$103,370Median pay in Colorado. 8,360 people work in this job in Colorado. 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 Colorado State
Computer and Information Science ranks 1st of 52 bachelor's programs at Colorado State by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer and Information Science ($78,856), Construction Engineering Technology ($78,423), and Electrical Engineering ($78,038).
Other computer and information science bachelor's programs near Fort Collins
Common questions
The median graduate earns $78,856 one year after graduating and $121,497 five years after. The median across computer and information science bachelor's programs in Colorado is $71,574.
The median federal loan balance is $23,250, which ranks 2nd lowest of 6 computer and information science bachelor's programs in Colorado. That works out to about $246 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 29% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 40%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less.
Most do. 87% (125 of 144) were working in Colorado 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 Colorado 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