East Tennessee State Accounting (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Accounting and Related Services
- Public university
- Johnson City, TN
- About 47 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
East Tennessee State accounting graduates earn less than graduates of most accounting programs nationally, $44,834 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $19,250 in federal loans, less than at 86% of accounting programs in the country. Debt is low, but pay is also below the Tennessee median of $51,425.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Tennessee and national columns are the medians across all accounting bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, East Tennessee State graduates earn less than the national figure and about $10,014 less than the Tennessee median. Several Tennessee programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Tennessee accounting program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Tennessee 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 29% 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 $5,428 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 $204 a month, or 5.5% 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
93% of graduates (64 of 69) were working in Tennessee one year after graduating. Prices in the Johnson City area are about 12% below the national average, so a $44,834 salary here buys what about $50,989 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 accounting, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Accountants and Auditors
$76,840Median pay in Tennessee. 27,340 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 115,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
$48,180Median pay in Tennessee. 37,680 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 144,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: some college, no degree.
Financial Managers
$141,010Median pay in Tennessee. 17,630 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 65,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Financial and Investment Analysts
$92,990Median pay in Tennessee. 4,910 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About East Tennessee State
Accounting ranks 6th of 29 bachelor's programs at East Tennessee State by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($64,459), Engineering Technology ($56,551), and Computer and Information Science ($52,008).
Other accounting bachelor's programs near Johnson City
Common questions
The median graduate earns $44,834 one year after graduating and $58,006 five years after. The median across accounting bachelor's programs in Tennessee is $51,425.
The median federal loan balance is $19,250, which ranks 3rd lowest of 9 accounting bachelor's programs in Tennessee. That works out to about $204 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 43% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 45%, 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 Tennessee programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 93% (64 of 69) were working in Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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 accounting 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