Rutgers Criminal Justice (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Criminal Justice and Corrections
- Public university
- New Brunswick, NJ
- About 167 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Rutgers criminal justice graduates earn about what criminal justice graduates earn nationally, $34,611 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $22,431 in federal loans, less than at 78% of criminal justice programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying criminal justice degrees in New Jersey.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The New Jersey and national columns are the medians across all criminal justice bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Rutgers graduates earn more than the national figure and about the same as the New Jersey median.
Debt and first-year pay at every New Jersey criminal justice program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the New Jersey 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 $4,620 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 $238 a month, or 8.3% 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. Separately, 107 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $20,392.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
91% of graduates (619 of 677) were working in New Jersey one year after graduating. Prices in the New York area are about 13% above the national average, so a $34,611 salary here buys what about $30,748 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 criminal justice, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Security Guards
$38,880Median pay in New Jersey. 41,540 people work in this job in New Jersey. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 156,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
$92,610Median pay in New Jersey. 21,780 people work in this job in New Jersey. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 51,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Compliance Officers
$100,000Median pay in New Jersey. 13,310 people work in this job in New Jersey. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Child, Family, and School Social Workers
$76,280Median pay in New Jersey. 7,360 people work in this job in New Jersey. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 33,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Rutgers
Criminal Justice ranks 54th of 74 bachelor's programs at Rutgers by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($87,594), Electrical Engineering ($82,598), and Computer and Information Science ($80,448).
Other criminal justice bachelor's programs near New Brunswick
Common questions
The median graduate earns $34,611 one year after graduating and $58,594 five years after. The median across criminal justice bachelor's programs in New Jersey is $34,611.
The median federal loan balance is $22,431, which ranks 4th lowest of 15 criminal justice bachelor's programs in New Jersey. That works out to about $238 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 65% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 67%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 2% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several New Jersey programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 91% (619 of 677) were working in New Jersey 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 New Jersey 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 criminal justice 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