Junjie Guo and Ananth Seshadri
Executive Summary:
- A recent report shows that UW-Madison graduates have the fourth highest median earnings among all postsecondary institutions in Wisconsin, behind Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), Marquette University and Bellin College.
- This masks the significant variation in earnings across fields of study and the significant variation in fields of study offered by different institutions.
- Across all postsecondary institutions in Wisconsin, UW-Madison graduates have the highest earnings in 48 out of the 72 fields of study where earnings data for recent graduates are available from the U.S. Department of Education.
- More importantly, UW-Madison graduates have the highest earnings in all 15 fields of study whose median earnings are above $96,000.
- For most fields of study, median earnings are higher among UW-Madison graduates than both Marquette and MSOE.
- Because UW-Madison’s tuition is much lower than both Marquette and MSOE, the higher earnings imply that the return to a bachelor’s degree at UW-Madison is much higher than those at both Marquette and MSOE.