Northern Illinois University Electrical Engineering (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering
- Public university
- Dekalb, IL
- About 41 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northern Illinois University electrical engineering graduates earn about what electrical engineering graduates earn nationally, $74,442 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $25,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,000. 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 electrical engineering bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Northern Illinois University graduates earn less than the national figure and about $13,774 less than the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois electrical engineering 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 16% 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 $5,522 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 $265 a month, or 4.3% 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
79% of graduates (60 of 76) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Chicago area are about 4% above the national average, so a $74,442 salary here buys what about $71,859 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 electrical engineering, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Architectural and Engineering Managers
$163,610Median pay in Illinois. 8,900 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Electrical Engineers
$107,860Median pay in Illinois. 5,460 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 11,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer
$129,390Median pay in Illinois. 960 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Computer Hardware Engineers
$133,220Median pay in Illinois. 1,420 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Northern Illinois University
Electrical Engineering ranks 3rd 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 electrical engineering bachelor's programs near Dekalb
Common questions
The median graduate earns $74,442 one year after graduating and $86,449 five years after. The median across electrical engineering bachelor's programs in Illinois is $74,442.
The median federal loan balance is $25,000, which ranks 4th lowest of 7 electrical engineering bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $265 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 34% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 32%. Compare the cost with other Illinois programs before deciding.
Most do. 79% (60 of 76) 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 electrical engineering 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