Penn State International Relations (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in International Relations and National Security Studies
- Public university
- University Park, PA
- About 138 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Penn State international relations graduates earn more than graduates of most international relations programs nationally, $45,858 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $25,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $21,750. Several Pennsylvania programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Pennsylvania and national columns are the medians across all international relations bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Penn State graduates earn more than the national figure but about $11,626 less than the Pennsylvania median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Pennsylvania international relations program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Pennsylvania 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 47% 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 more in their first year than other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $26,673 against $23,500.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $265 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. Separately, 66 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $48,453.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
32% of graduates (48 of 151) were working in Pennsylvania one year after graduating. Prices in the State College area are about 3% below the national average, so a $45,858 salary here buys what about $47,393 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 international relations, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Political Scientists
$140,020Median pay in Pennsylvania. 70 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 400 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Penn State
International Relations ranks 54th of 103 bachelor's programs at Penn State by first-year earnings. The top three are Petroleum Engineering ($85,795), Computer Engineering ($85,446), and Computer and Information Science ($84,050).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $45,858 one year after graduating and $67,400 five years after. The median across international relations bachelor's programs in Pennsylvania is $45,858.
The median federal loan balance is $25,000, which ranks 4th lowest of 6 international relations bachelor's programs in Pennsylvania. That works out to about $265 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 55% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 59%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less.
Many leave. 32% (48 of 151) were working in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 international relations 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