Cornell University Romance Languages (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
- Private nonprofit university
- Ithaca, NY
- About 18 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Cornell University Romance languages graduates earn about what Romance languages graduates earn nationally, $33,419 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $15,500 in federal loans, less than at 86% of Romance languages programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying Romance languages 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 Romance languages bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Cornell University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $21,161 more than the New York median.
Debt and first-year pay at every New York Romance languages 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 143% 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 $164 a month, or 5.9% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the Ithaca area are about 3% above the national average, so a $33,419 salary here buys what about $32,346 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 Romance languages, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$97,070Median pay in New York. 70,660 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Interpreters and Translators
$84,090Median pay in New York. 3,240 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Cornell University
Romance Languages ranks 37th 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 Romance languages bachelor's programs near Ithaca
Common questions
The median graduate earns $33,419 one year after graduating and $81,245 five years after. The median across Romance languages bachelor's programs in New York is $37,442.
The median federal loan balance is $15,500, which ranks 3rd lowest of 14 Romance languages bachelor's programs in New York. That works out to about $164 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 46% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 62%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several New York programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
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 Romance languages 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