Accounting master's programs report a median of $94,130 four years after graduation against median federal debt of $21,818. Which school a candidate picks moves that more than most people expect: the middle 80 percent of accounting bachelor's programs run from $59,152 to $95,027, a 1.6x spread. This page looks up any of the 5,498 accounting, finance, economics, and business programs in the U.S. Department of Education's 2026 program file, and puts each one next to what the professional credential in that field costs and what surveys report its holders earn.
Look up a program
Programs appear once you pick an institution. Only programs with both a reported earnings figure and a federal benchmark are listed. Of the 15,833 in scope, 10,119 report no earnings because the cohort was 15 completers or fewer, and 216 report earnings but have no benchmark under the statute.
What each field reports
Every figure is a median across programs in that field and credential level. "p10" is the tenth percentile, meaning 10 percent of programs report less, and "p90" is the ninetieth. A program at p10 is not a failing program, only one whose graduates earn less than most peers. The benchmark column is the median federal benchmark that applies to those programs.
| Field and level | Programs | Earnings p10 | Median | Earnings p90 | Median debt | Benchmark | Below |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accounting, Associate | 180 | $38,971 | $48,588 | $57,667 | $15,000 | $34,808 | 3 |
| Accounting, Bachelor | 739 | $59,152 | $73,054 | $95,027 | $23,127 | $34,808 | 0 |
| Accounting, Master's | 305 | $79,489 | $94,130 | $110,873 | $21,818 | $60,112 | 1 |
| Finance, Bachelor | 428 | $63,658 | $76,641 | $101,155 | $22,000 | $34,808 | 0 |
| Finance, Master's | 63 | $84,127 | $109,647 | $162,651 | $40,351 | $60,112 | 0 |
| Business Administration, Associate | 497 | $37,752 | $49,282 | $60,079 | $12,126 | $34,808 | 18 |
| Business Administration, Bachelor | 1,123 | $50,022 | $64,097 | $81,615 | $23,500 | $34,808 | 0 |
| Business Administration, Master's | 793 | $72,268 | $95,438 | $138,800 | $35,229 | $60,112 | 11 |
| Business Administration, Doctoral | 13 | $93,957 | $105,432 | $182,845 | $84,231 | $60,112 | 0 |
| Business Administration, Graduate Certificate | 25 | $69,743 | $91,584 | $127,175 | $41,000 | $60,112 | 0 |
| Economics, Bachelor | 353 | $63,270 | $79,267 | $116,375 | $20,726 | $34,808 | 0 |
| Economics, Master's | 21 | $74,173 | $105,001 | $125,847 | $40,658 | $60,112 | 0 |
| Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods, Bachelor | 105 | $65,559 | $86,155 | $111,473 | $21,722 | $34,808 | 0 |
| Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods, Master's | 80 | $103,308 | $124,088 | $155,192 | $39,076 | $60,112 | 0 |
| Business and Managerial Economics, Bachelor | 83 | $62,249 | $78,906 | $102,134 | $21,000 | $34,808 | 0 |
| Taxation, Master's | 28 | $89,741 | $113,191 | $132,854 | $31,015 | $65,358 | 0 |
| Insurance, Bachelor | 20 | $66,604 | $90,704 | $102,306 | $23,774 | $33,824 | 0 |
| Marketing, Associate | 26 | $36,274 | $44,958 | $55,285 | $15,448 | $35,041 | 0 |
| Marketing, Bachelor | 495 | $53,519 | $66,151 | $83,084 | $22,622 | $34,808 | 0 |
| Marketing, Master's | 38 | $61,121 | $81,016 | $121,857 | $33,439 | $60,112 | 2 |
| Real Estate, Bachelor | 24 | $59,329 | $82,246 | $127,646 | $20,891 | $34,808 | 0 |
| Real Estate, Master's | 15 | $109,111 | $147,770 | $162,275 | $43,988 | $60,112 | 0 |
Earnings in 2024 USD, CPI-U adjusted. Debt in 2019 USD (ED reports program debt on a different base year than earnings), a different base year, so the two columns cannot be netted against each other. "Below" counts programs under their federal benchmark.
How the four-digit CIP code pools programs. The Department reports at four digits, so related programs share one line.
Accounting (CIP 52.03). CIP 52.03 pools four-year accounting degrees with bookkeeping and accounting-technician programs, so the family median sits below what a BS in Accounting alone would show.
Finance (CIP 52.08). CIP 52.08 covers general finance, banking, investments and securities, and financial planning (52.0804) together, so CFP-track and CFA-track programs share one line.
Business Administration (CIP 52.02). CIP 52.02 is where most MBA programs land. It is the widest family in the file and the only one in FreeFellow scope with a meaningful number of programs near the federal benchmark.
Economics (CIP 45.06). CIP 45.06 is economics proper, reported separately from business economics (52.06).
Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (CIP 52.13). This is where Actuarial Science (52.1304) disappears. ED publishes four CIP digits, so actuarial programs are pooled with management science and business statistics and no federal number describes an actuarial program on its own.
Taxation (CIP 52.16). CIP 52.16 contains only taxation (52.1601), so this family is clean.
Insurance (CIP 52.17). CIP 52.17 contains only insurance (52.1701), so this family is clean.
The degree and the credential are not the same purchase
A master's degree and a professional credential get compared as if a candidate picks one. In accounting they are usually complements: many master's programs exist in part to reach the 150 credit hours most state boards require before licensure. What has changed is the financing. Graduate PLUS loans ended for new borrowers on July 1, 2026, and graduate borrowing is now capped, so the out-of-pocket difference between the two matters more than it used to.
| Credential | Exam fees | Study hours | Typical companion degree | Median debt for that degree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPA License | $1,435 | 520 hrs | Accounting, Master's | $21,818 |
| CFA Charter | $4,570 | 1,000 hrs | Finance, Master's | $40,351 |
| CFP Mark | $1,175 | 300 hrs | Finance, Master's | $40,351 |
| CMA (Certified Management Accountant) | $1,390 | 340 hrs | Business Administration, Master's | $35,229 |
| ASA (Associate, Society of Actuaries) | $3,049 | 1,525 hrs | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods, Master's | $39,076 |
Read the two earnings figures carefully. The program figure on this page is a median for one school's completers four years after graduation. The compensation figures in the lookup come from industry salary surveys covering credential holders at all career stages. They are measured differently, over different populations, and are not directly comparable. Credential holders earn more in every survey cited here, but none of those surveys establishes that the credential caused the difference.
Compensation sources for every credential this page can surface:
- CPA License: AICPA / Robert Half 2026 Salary Guide (CPA total pay incl bonus) (2025)
- CFA Charter: CFA Institute Compensation Study 2024 / AnalystPrep 2025 summary (US charterholders, all roles, base + bonus + equity) (2025)
- CFP Mark: CFP Board 2025 Compensation Study (CFP professionals: $185k overall median + 13% CFP premium) (2025)
- CMA (Certified Management Accountant): IMA 2023 Global Salary Survey (US median total comp) (2025)
- ASA (Associate, Society of Actuaries): DW Simpson Actuarial Salary Survey 2025 / Salary.com (US ASA mid-career) (2025)
- FCAS (Fellow, Casualty Actuarial Society): DW Simpson Actuarial Salary Survey 2025 (US FCAS mid-career, P&C) (2025)
Why actuarial science has no line in this data
The Department publishes program results at four digits of the CIP code. Actuarial Science is 52.1304, a six-digit code, so it is reported inside 52.13, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods, alongside management science and business statistics. That family reports a bachelor's median of $86,155 and a master's median of $124,088, but neither number describes an actuarial program specifically, and no public tool built on this file can separate them.
For an actuarial candidate the more informative signal is exam progression, which is visible well before any earnings cohort matures. The preliminary exams are open to anyone who registers, with no degree or sponsor required.
Free SOA Exam P practice and Exam FM practice, full banks with worked solutions.
About the federal earnings test
The 2025 budget reconciliation law added an earnings-accountability standard to the Higher Education Act, and the Department finalized the implementing rule on July 1, 2026. From July 1, 2027, a program whose completers earn below the applicable benchmark can lose access to federal Direct Loans after failing in two of three years. Undergraduate programs are measured against typical high school graduates, graduate programs against typical bachelor's holders. Nationally those benchmarks are $34,808 and $60,112, though most programs are measured against a state figure instead.
For the fields on this page the test is close to a non-event. Of the 5,498 programs here with reported earnings, 35 fall below their benchmark. Press coverage citing a $36,000 threshold is describing California's state benchmark, not a national one.
That is why this page reports earnings and debt rather than issuing a pass or fail verdict. Where a program does sit near its benchmark, the margin is often smaller than the noise the Department deliberately adds to protect privacy, which is about $3,235. A gap smaller than that is not a meaningful difference, and the lookup labels those programs rather than calling them either way.
Methodology and limits
Source: U.S. Department of Education, PPD:26 (2026 Program Performance Data) (variable codebook). The Department labels this release informational and states it is not the final data that will implement the rule. Nothing here is a compliance determination.
- Cohort and lag. AY2017-18 and 2018-19 completers, earnings measured CY2022 and CY2023. A figure shown today describes students who finished around 2018, so a change a program makes now would not appear in this measure for years.
- Who is counted. Median earnings 4 years after completion, among completers working and not enrolled. Title IV aid recipients only. Nationally about 55 percent of undergraduates receive federal aid, so this is a partial sample of any program's graduates.
- Privacy noise. The Department perturbs every earnings figure. The documented median absolute difference is about $3,235, which is larger than many program-to-benchmark margins.
- Suppression is a size threshold. The Department publishes no earnings figure for a program with 15 or fewer completers working and not enrolled; the smallest published cohort in the file is 16. That accounts for 10,119 of the 15,833 programs in scope, concentrated in certificates and doctorates, so this page describes larger programs better than small ones.
- Not every absence is suppression. A further 216 in-scope programs do report earnings but fall in a CIP code Section 84001 does not list, so no federal benchmark applies and the lookup omits them.
- CIP rollup. Four-digit reporting pools related programs. Accounting includes bookkeeping and accounting-technician programs; finance includes financial planning; actuarial science is not separable at all.
- Dollar bases differ. Earnings are 2024 USD, CPI-U adjusted; debt is 2019 USD (ED reports program debt on a different base year than earnings). Do not net one against the other.
Credential fees, study hours, and compensation come from the Finance Credential ROI Map, which carries the full sourcing and refresh dates for each figure.