SMU Music (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Music
- Private nonprofit university
- Dallas, TX
- About 24 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
SMU music graduates earn about what music graduates earn nationally, $23,159 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $18,417 in federal loans, less than at 89% of music programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying music degrees in Texas.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Texas and national columns are the medians across all music bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, SMU graduates earn less than the national figure and about $17,132 less than the Texas median. Several Texas programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Texas music program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Texas 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 52% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $195 a month, or 10.1% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
85% of graduates (17 of 20) were working in Texas one year after graduating. Prices in the Dallas area are about 3% above the national average, so a $23,159 salary here buys what about $22,465 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 music, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$63,590Median pay in Texas. 111,660 people work in this job in Texas. 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.
Sound Engineering Technicians
$54,370Median pay in Texas. 830 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
Music Directors and Composers
$65,570Median pay in Texas. 480 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
About SMU
Music ranks 26th of 26 bachelor's programs at SMU by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($93,679), Finance ($83,159), and Mechanical Engineering ($79,280).
Other music bachelor's programs near Dallas
Common questions
The median graduate earns $23,159 one year after graduating and $35,194 five years after. The median across music bachelor's programs in Texas is $47,010.
The median federal loan balance is $18,417, which ranks 2nd lowest of 19 music bachelor's programs in Texas. That works out to about $195 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 80% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 92%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Texas programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 85% (17 of 20) were working in Texas 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 Texas 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 music 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