Northeastern University English (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in English Language and Literature, General
- Private nonprofit university
- Boston, MA
- About 18 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northeastern University English graduates earn more than graduates of most English programs nationally, $49,639 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $27,000 in federal loans, more than at 79% of English programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying English degrees in Massachusetts.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Massachusetts and national columns are the medians across all English bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Northeastern University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $3,924 more than the Massachusetts median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Massachusetts English program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Massachusetts 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 8% 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 $286 a month, or 6.9% 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
Prices in the Boston area are about 8% above the national average, so a $49,639 salary here buys what about $45,849 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 English, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$95,260Median pay in Massachusetts. 28,460 people work in this job in Massachusetts. 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.
Proofreaders and Copy Markers
$57,160Median pay in Massachusetts. 190 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Northeastern University
English ranks 22nd of 32 bachelor's programs at Northeastern University by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer and Information Science ($115,587), Computer Engineering ($99,499), and Electrical Engineering ($92,222).
Other English bachelor's programs near Boston
Common questions
The median graduate earns $49,639 one year after graduating and $53,709 five years after. The median across English bachelor's programs in Massachusetts is $34,629.
The median federal loan balance is $27,000, which ranks 17th lowest of 26 English bachelor's programs in Massachusetts. That works out to about $286 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 54% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 77%.
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 Massachusetts 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 English 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