Which New York Romance languages program has the lowest debt?

Lehman College reports the lowest median federal debt, $8,617, with first-year pay of $35,941.

How much do Romance languages graduates earn in New York?

The median across 19 New York Romance languages bachelor's programs is $37,442 in the first year after graduating and $60,084 five years after.

How many Romance languages bachelor's programs are in New York?

19 New York programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 14 of them also report federal debt.

Romance Languages (Bachelor's) Programs in New York, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

19 programs report first-year pay
14 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median New York Romance languages bachelor's program pays its graduates $37,442 in their first year, $2,793 more than the national median. Columbia University reports the highest first-year pay ($54,327), and Lehman College the lowest median debt ($8,617).

Median first-year pay$37,442National $34,649

Median pay after 5 years$60,084National $54,049

Median federal debt$19,212National $22,067

Debt-to-earnings53%National 62%

All 19 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Columbia UniversityNew York · private nonprofit	$54,327	$78,873	$20,250	37%
2	Colgate UniversityHamilton · private nonprofit	$53,541	$79,583	$16,900	32%
3	CUNY York CollegeJamaica · public	$46,882	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
4	Fordham UniversityBronx · private nonprofit	$44,073	$53,448	$27,000	61%
5	Stony Brook UniversityStony Brook · public	$43,821	$43,596	$19,212	44%
6	Hamilton CollegeClinton · private nonprofit	$41,946	$58,619	$12,200	29%
7	Skidmore CollegeSaratoga Springs · private nonprofit	$40,204	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
8	Syracuse UniversitySyracuse · private nonprofit	$39,825	Not reported	$26,137	66%
9	Queens CollegeQueens · public	$37,654	$56,850	Not reported	Not reported
10	John Jay CollegeNew York · public	$37,442	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
11	Lehman CollegeBronx · public	$35,941	Not reported	$8,617	24%
12	Cornell UniversityIthaca · private nonprofit	$33,419	$81,245	$15,500	46%
13	Binghamton UniversityVestal · public	$32,718	$71,075	$19,500	60%
14	University at AlbanyAlbany · public	$30,810	Not reported	$21,681	70%
15	Hunter CollegeNew York · public	$30,534	$53,642	$15,523	51%
16	Vassar CollegePoughkeepsie · private nonprofit	$28,999	$54,746	$19,000	66%
17	SUNY New PaltzNew Paltz · public	$28,681	$60,084	$16,000	56%
18	Nazareth UniversityRochester · private nonprofit	$25,979	Not reported	$26,768	103%
19	City College of New YorkNew York · public	$23,932	$60,398	Not reported	Not reported

5 programs report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every New York Romance languages program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the New York medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 14 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Columbia University$54,327
Colgate University$53,541
CUNY York College$46,882
Fordham University$44,073
Stony Brook University$43,821

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to Romance languages, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$97,070

Median pay in New York. 70,660 people work in this job in New York. 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.

Bottom 10%: $60,070Top 10%: $136,450

Interpreters and Translators

$84,090

Median pay in New York. 3,240 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $48,930Top 10%: $127,350

Common questions

Columbia University in New York reports the highest median first-year pay, $54,327. Its median federal debt is $20,250.

Romance Languages (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked189 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 New York rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the Romance languages bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024