Bachelor's · Amherst, Massachusetts
Is Mechanical Engineering at University of Massachusetts-Amherst worth it?
High confidence High confidence: 100+ 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 2.8 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $81,822
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $104,189
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $24,212
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $97k (likely $97k – $100k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $61k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in MA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 2.8 years (likely 2.5–3.2)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $293k (likely $218k – $371k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $1.02M (likely $822k – $1.23M)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 81%
- Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Borrowers making progress / in default, 2 years in
- not reported / ≤ 10%
- NSLDS AY2016-17, AY2017-18 pooled cohorts measured in 2018-19, 2019-20
Change income, residency or loans Compare Mechanical Engineering at other schools
Other majors at University of Massachusetts-Amherst
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's)$165,473
- Computer Science (Master's)$154,099
- Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Doctoral)$126,453
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$123,519
- Computer Engineering (Bachelor's)$113,083
- Education, General (Doctoral)$110,816
- Accounting and Related Services (Master's)$109,628
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$106,958
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's)$101,091
- Microbiological Sciences and Immunology (Master's)$100,729
- Accounting and Related Services (Bachelor's)$100,516
- Human Resources Management and Services (Master's)$98,155
Mechanical Engineering at other schools in Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology$131,967
- Northeastern University$103,384
- Tufts University$101,196
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute$97,308
- Wentworth Institute of Technology$97,124
- Boston University$95,757
- University of Massachusetts-Lowell$94,841
- Western New England University$93,541
- University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth$89,310
- Merrimack College$85,545