Notre Dame Political Science (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Political Science and Government
- Private nonprofit university
- Notre Dame, IN
- About 175 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Notre Dame political science graduates earn more than graduates of most political science programs nationally, $55,316 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $19,000 in federal loans, less than at 81% of political science programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying political science degrees in Indiana.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Indiana and national columns are the medians across all political science bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Notre Dame graduates earn more than the national figure and about $17,749 more than the Indiana median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Indiana political science program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Indiana 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 48% 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 $201 a month, or 4.4% 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, 35 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $43,571.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the South Bend area are about 7% below the national average, so a $55,316 salary here buys what about $59,571 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 political science, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$61,880Median pay in Indiana. 20,430 people work in this job in Indiana. 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.
Social Science Research Assistants
$57,020Median pay in Indiana. 210 people work in this job in Indiana. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Economists
$80,750Median pay in Indiana. 80 people work in this job in Indiana. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
Political Scientists
$142,080Median pay nationwide. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 400 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Notre Dame
Political Science ranks 21st of 32 bachelor's programs at Notre Dame by first-year earnings. The top three are Finance ($99,222), Computer and Information Science ($96,517), and Other Mathematics ($89,689).
Other political science bachelor's programs near Notre Dame
Common questions
The median graduate earns $55,316 one year after graduating and $81,595 five years after. The median across political science bachelor's programs in Indiana is $34,944.
The median federal loan balance is $19,000, which ranks 3rd lowest of 10 political science bachelor's programs in Indiana. That works out to about $201 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 34% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 65%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less.
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 Indiana 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 political science 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