UIUC Environmental Science and Conservation (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Natural Resources Conservation and Research
- Public university
- Champaign, IL
- About 82 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
UIUC environmental science and conservation graduates earn about what environmental science and conservation graduates earn nationally, $31,369 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $21,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $23,078. Two other 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 environmental science and conservation bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, UIUC graduates earn more than the national figure and about $4,380 more than the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois environmental science and conservation 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 85% 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 $22,925 against $19,000.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $223 a month, or 8.5% 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, 22 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $27,690.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
78% of graduates (56 of 72) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Champaign area are about 7% below the national average, so a $31,369 salary here buys what about $33,838 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 environmental science and conservation, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Compliance Officers
$80,550Median pay in Illinois. 10,650 people work in this job in Illinois. 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.
Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
$81,590Median pay in Illinois. 1,550 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health
$59,930Median pay in Illinois. 980 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 5,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.
Forest and Conservation Technicians
$52,790Median pay in Illinois. 820 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.
About UIUC
Environmental Science and Conservation ranks 55th of 71 bachelor's programs at UIUC by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($124,530), Computer and Information Science ($113,503), and Mathematics and Computer Science ($109,843).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $31,369 one year after graduating and $58,105 five years after. The median across environmental science and conservation bachelor's programs in Illinois is $30,644.
The median federal loan balance is $21,000, which ranks 2nd lowest of 7 environmental science and conservation bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $223 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 67% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 67%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less.
Most do. 78% (56 of 72) 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 environmental science and conservation 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