UW-Madison Finance (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Finance and Financial Management Services
- Public university
- Madison, WI
- About 521 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
UW-Madison finance graduates earn more than graduates of most finance programs nationally, $68,681 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $21,500 in federal loans, close to the national median of $23,250. It is one of the higher-paying finance degrees in Wisconsin.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Wisconsin and national columns are the medians across all finance bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, UW-Madison graduates earn more than the national figure and about $30,382 more than the Wisconsin median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Wisconsin finance program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Wisconsin 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 55% 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 $11,575 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 $228 a month, or 4.0% 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, 33 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $33,769.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
36% of graduates (98 of 270) were working in Wisconsin one year after graduating. Prices in the Madison area are about 3% below the national average, so a $68,681 salary here buys what about $70,596 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
$118,730Median pay in Wisconsin. 36,910 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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
$139,720Median pay in Wisconsin. 15,530 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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
$74,010Median pay in Wisconsin. 5,980 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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
$95,570Median pay in Wisconsin. 5,430 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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 UW-Madison
Finance ranks 16th of 64 bachelor's programs at UW-Madison by first-year earnings. The top three are Chemical Engineering ($85,945), Management Science ($83,260), and Electrical Engineering ($82,018).
Other finance bachelor's programs near Madison
Common questions
The median graduate earns $68,681 one year after graduating and $106,484 five years after. The median across finance bachelor's programs in Wisconsin is $57,025.
The median federal loan balance is $21,500, which ranks 2nd lowest of 10 finance bachelor's programs in Wisconsin. That works out to about $228 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 31% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 44%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 5% or less.
Many leave. 36% (98 of 270) were working in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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