Which RPI major has the lowest debt?

Nuclear Engineering graduates leave with a median of $19,500 in federal loans, the lowest among 17 RPI bachelor's programs that report debt.

How much does RPI cost?

Tuition and fees are $64,081 a year for all students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $36,228 a year.

How many RPI programs report graduate pay?

17 bachelor's programs at RPI report first-year pay, and all of them also report federal debt.

RPI Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Private nonprofit school
Troy, NY
5,714 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

17 RPI bachelor's programs report what graduates earn. Computer Science pays the most in the first year ($104,943), and Design and Applied Arts the least ($36,191). The median program pays $74,427.

Tuition and fees$64,081Per year, for all students

Average net price after aid$36,228Per year

Graduation rate84%Within 6 years

Admission rate63%Of applicants

All 17 bachelor's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in New York" compares first-year pay with the same field's bachelor's programs across New York. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in New York
1	Computer ScienceAbout 250 graduates a year	$104,943	$148,254	$23,250	3rd of 20
2	Computer Engineering TechnologyAbout 62 graduates a year	$94,722	$135,609	$23,582	1st of 5
3	Computer and Information ScienceAbout 35 graduates a year	$85,172	$170,829	$27,000	5th of 30
4	Electrical EngineeringAbout 69 graduates a year	$83,412	$116,079	$24,625	5th of 18
5	MathematicsAbout 75 graduates a year	$80,196	$106,266	$24,250	2nd of 22
6	Chemical EngineeringAbout 61 graduates a year	$78,263	$107,062	$25,332	2nd of 12
7	Nuclear EngineeringAbout 18 graduates a year	$77,014	$97,907	$19,500	1st of 1
8	Industrial EngineeringAbout 29 graduates a year	$74,787	$117,724	$22,750	2nd of 5
9	Biomedical EngineeringAbout 65 graduates a year	$74,427	$111,812	$26,000	1st of 11
10	Mechanical EngineeringAbout 162 graduates a year	$73,833	$94,402	$25,000	5th of 21
11	Aerospace EngineeringAbout 117 graduates a year	$73,213	$98,049	$25,000	1st of 4
12	Civil EngineeringAbout 53 graduates a year	$71,790	$94,283	$26,979	6th of 10
13	Materials EngineeringAbout 14 graduates a year	$66,927	$84,117	$23,250	1st of 1
14	PhysicsAbout 42 graduates a year	$60,348	$111,815	$20,270	1st of 6
15	ArchitectureAbout 56 graduates a year	$54,334	$74,873	$31,000	1st of 3
16	Business AdministrationAbout 58 graduates a year	$47,925	$100,765	$26,000	15th of 73
17	Design and Applied ArtsAbout 34 graduates a year	$36,191	Not reported	$25,000	2nd of 18

Program names link to the program's own page, and New York ranks link to the full ranking for the field. A program gets its own page when it reports both pay and debt and at least five New York programs in the field do too.

3 more bachelor's programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Computer Science$104,943
Computer Engineering Technology$94,722
Computer and Information Science$85,172
Electrical Engineering$83,412
Mathematics$80,196

Lowest median debt

Nuclear Engineering$19,500
Physics$20,270
Industrial Engineering$22,750
Computer Science$23,250
Materials Engineering$23,250

Largest programs

Computer ScienceAbout 250 graduates a year
Mechanical EngineeringAbout 162 graduates a year
Aerospace EngineeringAbout 117 graduates a year
MathematicsAbout 75 graduates a year
Electrical EngineeringAbout 69 graduates a year

Common questions

Computer Science graduates earn a median of $104,943 in their first year, the most of 17 RPI bachelor's programs that report pay.

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Tuition, net price, graduation rate, and admission rate are for the whole school, not one program.
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 New York rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
NCES, IPEDS tuition and fees, 2023-24, for in-district tuition labels