Portland State English (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in English Language and Literature, General
- Public university
- Portland, OR
- About 81 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Portland State English graduates earn about what English graduates earn nationally, $27,819 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $24,546 in federal loans, close to the national median of $24,498. Several Oregon programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Oregon and national columns are the medians across all English bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Portland State graduates earn about the national figure and about $2,070 more than the Oregon median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Oregon English program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Oregon 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 69% 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 $1,906 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 $260 a month, or 11.2% 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, 24 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $14,344.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
77% of graduates (85 of 111) were working in Oregon one year after graduating. Prices in the Portland area are about 5% above the national average, so a $27,819 salary here buys what about $26,388 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
$79,570Median pay in Oregon. 11,730 people work in this job in Oregon. 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
$51,120Median pay nationwide. 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 Portland State
English ranks 41st of 50 bachelor's programs at Portland State by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Engineering ($87,259), Electrical Engineering ($82,853), and Computer Science ($78,669).
Other English bachelor's programs near Portland
Common questions
The median graduate earns $27,819 one year after graduating and $47,120 five years after. The median across English bachelor's programs in Oregon is $28,328.
The median federal loan balance is $24,546, which ranks 4th lowest of 6 English bachelor's programs in Oregon. That works out to about $260 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 88% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 77%. Compare the cost with other Oregon programs before deciding.
Most do. 77% (85 of 111) were working in Oregon 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 Oregon 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