USF Criminology (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Criminology
- Public university
- Tampa, FL
- About 387 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
USF criminology graduates earn about what criminology graduates earn nationally, $37,108 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $20,302 in federal loans, less than at 82% of criminology programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying criminology degrees in Florida.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Florida and national columns are the medians across all criminology bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, USF graduates earn less than the national figure and about the same as the Florida median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Florida criminology program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Florida 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 40% 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 $1,255 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 $215 a month, or 7.0% 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, 58 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $24,977.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
87% of graduates (349 of 399) were working in Florida one year after graduating. Prices in the Tampa area are about 1% above the national average, so a $37,108 salary here buys what about $36,781 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 criminology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Sociologists
$46,950Median pay in Florida. 160 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 200 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About USF
Criminology ranks 28th of 54 bachelor's programs at USF by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Engineering ($83,660), Electrical Engineering ($78,825), and Nursing ($72,879).
Other criminology bachelor's programs near Tampa
Common questions
The median graduate earns $37,108 one year after graduating and $51,831 five years after. The median across criminology bachelor's programs in Florida is $35,096.
The median federal loan balance is $20,302, which ranks 3rd lowest of 7 criminology bachelor's programs in Florida. That works out to about $215 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 55% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 64%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 5% or less.
Most do. 87% (349 of 399) were working in Florida 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 Florida 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 criminology 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