Northern Illinois University Computer Science (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Computer Science
- Public university
- Dekalb, IL
- About 110 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northern Illinois University computer science graduates earn about what computer science graduates earn nationally, $77,257 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $22,966 in federal loans, close to the national median of $23,308. Several Illinois programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all computer science bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Northern Illinois University graduates earn less than the national figure and about $16,836 less than the Illinois median. Several Illinois programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois computer science 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.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 11% 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 about the same in their first year as other graduates. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $243 a month, or 3.8% 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. Separately, 35 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $22,000.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
88% of graduates (171 of 195) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Chicago area are about 4% above the national average, so a $77,257 salary here buys what about $74,576 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 computer science, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Software Developers
$132,110Median pay in Illinois. 56,310 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 95,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Computer and Information Systems Managers
$171,730Median pay in Illinois. 31,680 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 16% from 2025 to 2035, with about 53,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Data Scientists
$106,560Median pay in Illinois. 10,520 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 35% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Information Security Analysts
$124,180Median pay in Illinois. 5,260 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 21% from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
About Northern Illinois University
Computer Science ranks 1st of 41 bachelor's programs at Northern Illinois University by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($77,257), Nursing ($75,557), and Electrical Engineering ($74,442).
Other computer science bachelor's programs near Dekalb
Common questions
The median graduate earns $77,257 one year after graduating and $85,811 five years after. The median across computer science bachelor's programs in Illinois is $72,657.
The median federal loan balance is $22,966, which ranks 8th lowest of 20 computer science bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $243 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 30% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 34%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Illinois programs report higher pay.
Most do. 88% (171 of 195) 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 computer science 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