Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Finance (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Finance and Financial Management Services
- Public university
- Carbondale, IL
- About 30 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale finance graduates earn less than graduates of most finance programs nationally, $48,708 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $20,447 in federal loans, close to the national median of $23,250. Several Illinois programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all finance bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale graduates earn less than the national figure and about $19,043 less than the Illinois median. Several Illinois programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois finance program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois 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 31% 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 slightly more in their first year than other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $26,750 against $15,500.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $217 a month, or 5.3% 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.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
64% of graduates (29 of 45) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Illinois outside metro areas are about 13% below the national average, so a $48,708 salary here buys what about $55,717 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 finance, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
General and Operations Managers
$103,570Median pay in Illinois. 171,300 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 285,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Financial Managers
$165,880Median pay in Illinois. 52,720 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 65,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents
$99,840Median pay in Illinois. 27,920 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 35,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Financial and Investment Analysts
$101,180Median pay in Illinois. 20,520 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
Finance ranks 15th of 49 bachelor's programs at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale by first-year earnings. The top three are Fire Science ($104,017), Industrial Technology ($73,283), and Electrical Engineering Technology ($72,495).
Other finance bachelor's programs near Carbondale
Common questions
The median graduate earns $48,708 one year after graduating and $63,649 five years after. The median across finance bachelor's programs in Illinois is $54,261.
The median federal loan balance is $20,447, which ranks 6th lowest of 20 finance bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $217 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 42% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 44%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Illinois programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 64% (29 of 45) were working in Illinois 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 Illinois 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 finance 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