Cornell University Human Resources (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Human Resources Management and Services
- Private nonprofit university
- Ithaca, NY
- About 273 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Cornell University human resources graduates earn more than graduates of most human resources programs nationally, $73,436 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $15,000 in federal loans, less than at 92% of human resources programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying human resources degrees in New York.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The New York and national columns are the medians across all human resources bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Cornell University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $56,094 more than the New York median.
Debt and first-year pay at every New York human resources program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the New York 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 64% 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 slightly more in their first year than other graduates. They also borrowed less. 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 $159 a month, or 2.6% 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, 75 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $51,484.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
49% of graduates (148 of 303) were working in New York one year after graduating. Prices in the Ithaca area are about 3% above the national average, so a $73,436 salary here buys what about $71,078 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 human resources, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Human Resources Specialists
$84,380Median pay in New York. 54,610 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 73,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Training and Development Specialists
$76,080Median pay in New York. 27,460 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 11% from 2025 to 2035, with about 46,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Compliance Officers
$90,080Median pay in New York. 23,500 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
$71,610Median pay in New York. 23,380 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 27,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Cornell University
Human Resources ranks 15th of 42 bachelor's programs at Cornell University by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($152,656), Computer and Information Science ($103,650), and Electrical Engineering ($100,516).
Other human resources bachelor's programs near Ithaca
Common questions
The median graduate earns $73,436 one year after graduating and $120,368 five years after. The median across human resources bachelor's programs in New York is $53,317.
The median federal loan balance is $15,000, which ranks the lowest of 5 human resources bachelor's programs in New York. That works out to about $159 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 20% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 53%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 5% or less.
Many leave. 49% (148 of 303) were working in New York 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 New York 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 human resources 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