Eastern Connecticut State Fine and Studio Arts (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Fine and Studio Arts
- Public university
- Willimantic, CT
- About 28 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Eastern Connecticut State fine and studio arts graduates earn about what fine and studio arts graduates earn nationally, $23,534 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $22,250 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,402. Several Connecticut programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Connecticut and national columns are the medians across all fine and studio arts bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Eastern Connecticut State graduates earn more than the national figure and about $3,160 more than the Connecticut median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Connecticut fine and studio arts program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Connecticut 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 112% 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 $5,687 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 $236 a month, or 12.0% 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
81% of graduates (35 of 43) were working in Connecticut one year after graduating. Prices in the Norwich area are about the same as the national average.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to fine and studio arts, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$80,970Median pay in Connecticut. 14,800 people work in this job in Connecticut. 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.
Property Appraisers and Assessors
$86,050Median pay in Connecticut. 630 people work in this job in Connecticut. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 5,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Art Directors
$71,900Median pay in Connecticut. 1,160 people work in this job in Connecticut. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Photographers
$49,790Median pay in Connecticut. 630 people work in this job in Connecticut. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
About Eastern Connecticut State
Fine and Studio Arts ranks 19th of 19 bachelor's programs at Eastern Connecticut State by first-year earnings. The top three are Subject-Area Teacher Education ($47,736), Teacher Education ($47,445), and Mathematics ($45,858).
Other fine and studio arts bachelor's programs near Willimantic
Common questions
The median graduate earns $23,534 one year after graduating and $49,915 five years after. The median across fine and studio arts bachelor's programs in Connecticut is $25,465.
The median federal loan balance is $22,250, which ranks the lowest of 5 fine and studio arts bachelor's programs in Connecticut. That works out to about $236 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 95% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 97%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Connecticut programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 81% (35 of 43) were working in Connecticut 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 Connecticut 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 fine and studio arts 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