Northeastern Illinois University Human Resources (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Human Resources Management and Services
- Public university
- Chicago, IL
- About 30 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northeastern Illinois University human resources graduates earn about what human resources graduates earn nationally, $49,131 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $15,365 in federal loans, less than at 92% of human resources programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying human resources degrees in Illinois.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all human resources bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois human resources program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $163 a month, or 4.0% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
100% of graduates (56 of 56) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Chicago area are about 4% above the national average, so a $49,131 salary here buys what about $47,426 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
$76,820Median pay in Illinois. 35,430 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$67,380Median pay in Illinois. 15,140 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$80,550Median pay in Illinois. 10,650 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$62,420Median pay in Illinois. 13,580 people work in this job in Illinois. 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 Northeastern Illinois University
Human Resources ranks 4th of 22 bachelor's programs at Northeastern Illinois University by first-year earnings. The top three are Subject-Area Teacher Education ($63,615), Computer Science ($62,831), and Accounting ($50,475).
Other human resources bachelor's programs near Chicago
Common questions
The median graduate earns $49,131 one year after graduating. The median across human resources bachelor's programs in Illinois is $51,062.
The median federal loan balance is $15,365, which ranks the lowest of 8 human resources bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $163 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 31% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 53%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Illinois programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 100% (56 of 56) were working in Illinois 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 Illinois 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