College profile
Southern Connecticut State University
CT · Public · Mid-size city · 8,303 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing grads from here earn about $98,870 four years out; fine and studio arts grads about $36,387 — a 2.7× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 5× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$29,673/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$55,043/yr) still runs about 5× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
- Worth asking: do students finish? Only 50% graduate within six years here — the standard federal measure. Ask what drives that: course availability, transfers out, students working long hours. Not finishing is the costliest outcome there is.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants. Major value play for in-state residents.
Best for
- In-state residents (tuition ~$13,438 — major value play)
- Students drawn to Health Professions or Business, Management, & Marketing (the two biggest majors)
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
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Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Southern Connecticut State University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Southern Connecticut State University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$432K ahead at full price +$467K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Southern Connecticut State University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Southern Connecticut State University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Southern Connecticut State University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. | $98,870 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | $87,705 |
| Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions. | $74,538 |
| Chemistry. | $72,838 |
| Biology, General. | $67,791 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $63,310 |
| Communication Disorders Sciences and Services. | $61,336 |
| Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas. | $60,780 |
| Special Education and Teaching. | $60,365 |
| Social Work. | $59,438 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
AI program signal
AI + computing education at Southern Connecticut State University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to Southern Connecticut State University
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantSouthern Connecticut State University is a public four-year college in CT. It admitted 81% of applicants (8,303 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Cost: about $20,857 a year on average with aid, $29,673 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $55,043 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $467,002 ahead with aid, $431,738 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing ($98,870); Computer and Information Sciences, General ($87,705); Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions ($74,538).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 6% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 26% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/southern-connecticut-state-university.json