Ohio State Human Development and Family Studies (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services
- Public university
- Columbus, OH
- About 101 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Ohio State human development and family studies graduates earn about what human development and family studies graduates earn nationally, $34,610 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $23,250 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,000. One other Ohio program reports higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Ohio and national columns are the medians across all human development and family studies bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Ohio State graduates earn more than the national figure and about $10,504 more than the Ohio median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio human development and family studies program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Ohio 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 53% 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 $3,908 less in their first year than other graduates. 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 $246 a month, or 8.5% 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, 77 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $20,546.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
82% of graduates (146 of 177) were working in Ohio one year after graduating. Prices in the Columbus area are about 5% below the national average, so a $34,610 salary here buys what about $36,253 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 development and family studies, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Childcare Workers
$29,680Median pay in Ohio. 11,300 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 150,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education
$35,180Median pay in Ohio. 19,840 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 66,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.
Social and Human Service Assistants
$38,390Median pay in Ohio. 10,970 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 48,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Farm and Home Management Educators
$60,220Median pay nationwide. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 800 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Ohio State
Human Development and Family Studies ranks 77th of 98 bachelor's programs at Ohio State by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Engineering ($83,342), Applied Mathematics ($82,523), and Computer and Information Science ($82,448).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $34,610 one year after graduating and $52,826 five years after. The median across human development and family studies bachelor's programs in Ohio is $33,643.
The median federal loan balance is $23,250, which ranks the lowest of 5 human development and family studies bachelor's programs in Ohio. That works out to about $246 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 67% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 73%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less.
Most do. 82% (146 of 177) were working in Ohio 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 Ohio 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 development and family studies 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