Bachelor's · Cambridge, Massachusetts
Is Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology worth it?
Low confidence Low confidence: fewer than 40 graduates behind the earnings figures.
The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans
Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 1.3 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $101,754
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $123,116
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- Not enough borrowers to report
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $63k (likely $63k – $66k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $80k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in MA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 1.3 years (likely 1.0–1.8)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $539k (likely $340k – $745k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $1.46M (likely $1.04M – $1.97M)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 96%
- Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
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🏗️ Getting ready in high school
Students heading toward engineering & architecture majors like this one often take these classes. Every school offers a different mix, so check with your counselor.
AP classes
- AP Calculus AB or BC
- AP Physics 1
- AP Physics C: Mechanics
- AP Chemistry
IB Higher Level
- Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HL
- Physics HL
Build my roadmap 🗺️ Middle school to career, plus high schools near you that offer these classes.
Other majors at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Business/Commerce, General (Master's)$258,152
- Systems Engineering (Master's)$227,052
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$225,141
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Doctoral)$214,070
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's)$210,825
- Mechanical Engineering (Master's)$200,732
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$199,245
- Biology, General (Doctoral)$189,144
- Chemical Engineering (Doctoral)$184,436
- Mathematics (Bachelor's)$174,951
- Biomedical/Medical Engineering (Doctoral)$167,374
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's)$161,118
Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering at other schools in Massachusetts
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute$105,171