Average Cost Of Master’s Degree In 2024 (Pricing Breakdown)

In order to pursue your dream job or open the door to great career opportunities, a Master’s degree acts as a bridge. 

They not only help in pursuing excellent career opportunities but also helps to expand your knowledge, skills, and experience in your field of study. 

If you are thinking of getting a master’s degree and have no idea about the Average cost of it, then here you go.

The cost or pricing of a master’s degree depends on a wide range of factors, such as degree type, type of institution, an individual’s country of origin, etc.

Here in this article, you will get an insight into some important stats associated with the average cost of a master’s degree. 

Before diving deep into the article, below are some key findings for you. 

Key Findings

1. The average estimate of a Master’s degree in the United States is over $30,000 per year. 

2. The price of a Master’s degree program for two years typically ranges from $44,000 to $57,000. 

3. The average cost of a Master’s degree (two-year program) for a public institution is $54,718. 

4. Stanford University is one of the most expensive universities for Graduate students, with an average cost of $54,315 per year. 

5. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Virginia, etc., are the most expensive States having high costs for Master’s degrees.

6. Around 53% of students have loan debt from their master’s degree program. 

7. As per the survey, around 50.1% of Asians took out a loan for a master’s degree. 

8. Black graduate students are 40% likely, and White graduate students are 22% more likely to acquire graduate school debt. 

9. The average cost of a master’s degree program conducted online is around $25,000. 

10.  Graduate students mostly pay up for their master’s degree by borrowing or using their earnings. 

11. Grants and scholarships covered about 25% of total college costs. 

Average Cost Of A Masters’s Degree

The average cost of a Masters’s degree is around $62,650 (Education data initiative).

A master’s degree is a two-year program, and the degree’s cost depends on a wide range of variables such as type of degree, institution type, state, etc.

Let us have a look at the average cost of a Master’s degree depending on various factors given below.

Average Cost As Per Type Of Degree

The average pricing of the Master’s degree varies as per the degree type. The below data demonstrates the cost structure of the Master’s degree as per the degree type. 

Degree Type	Average Cost
Masters of Business Administration.	$61,800
Master of Arts.	$65,880
Master of Science.	$59,720
Master of Education.	$52,000
Other degree types.	$72,770

Source: Education Data Initiative.

Masters Of Business Administration

1. Master of Business Administration is the most popular degree, and around 197,089 master’s degrees were conferred in the field of Business for the year 2018-19. 

2. The total price for attendance of an MBA degree was demonstrated to be $23,000 for the year 2003-04, and it increased to $27,600 in the year 2015-16. 

3. The average cost for a master’s degree in MBA was found to be $55,320 from the year 2000 to 2016. 

4. The cost for the 2-year degree program in MBA from Harvard Business school is around $112,760. 

Master Of Arts

Literature, Languages, History, etc., are the subjects covered under the Master of Arts degree program. 

1. From the year 2000 to 2016, the average cost of a Masters’s degree in the field of arts was found to be $53,470. 

2. The graduate tuition fee for in-state residents is around $17,836, and for out-of-state residents is around $32,938 at the University of California, Los Angeles. 

3. The cost of attendance in Arts was found to be $21,600 for the year 2003-04, and it increased to $26,900 for the year 2015-16. 

Master Of Science

STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and medicine) are the programs covered under the master of science degree program. Following are some important stats that you can go through. 

1. From 2000 to 2016, the average cost of a master’s degree in Science was found to be $52,200. 

2. The cost of a Master’s in Engineering Management at the University of North Carolina was found to be $11,830.

3. For social/behavioral science, the average cost of attendance was $22,500 for the year 2003-04, and it rose to $26,600 for the year 2015-16. 

Master Of Education

1. For the years 2003 and 2004, the average cost for a degree in master of education was found to be $41,700, and it increased to $54,500 for the years 2011 and 2012. 

2. A degree of Master’s of education at Columbia University will cost you around $63,000. 

3. The lowest price for a degree in Master’s of education starts at $6,500 per year.  

Cost Of A Master’s Degree As Per The Type Of Institution

The pricing of a master’s degree varies considerably based on the type of school or institution. Here is the cost of a master’s degree based on the type of institution. 

Type Of School	Average Cost Of Masters Degree (For One Year )	The Average Cost Of Masters Degree (For Two Years)
Total (for all schools)	$31,046	$62,092
Public	$27,359	$54,718
Private (Non-profit)	$36,286	$72,572
Private (Profit)	$24,271	$48,542

Source: National Center for Education Statistics PowerStats.

The cost of a master’s degree from a private non-profit institution is $72,572, and for a private profit institution, it is $48,542. 

The Average Cost Of A Master’s Degree By State

To know the average cost of a master’s degree based on the different States, go through the following data. 

States	In-State Tuition Fees	Out Of The State Tuition Fees
Utah	$6,666	$23,537
Iowa	$10,079	$26,026
Vermont	$12,294	$30,960
Virginia	$17,076	$28,604
Nebraska	$6,138	$17,928
New Hampshire	$14,170	$27,810
Washington	$16,278	$29,178

Source: erudera.

1. Florida, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina, Mississippi, Wyoming, etc., are the States with low cost of master’s degree. 

2. At Harvard University in Massachusetts, the average cost for a master’s degree program is around $49,448, and at the Massachusetts institute of technology, it is around $53,450. 

Cost Of A Master’s Degree As Per Race

Based on a study conducted at the Brookings Institute in the year 2016, the debt gap has been observed between Black students and White students pursuing master’s degrees. 

Asians have a large amount of cumulative debt, whereas Black Americans are most likely to have or borrow loans. 

The below table represents the master’s degree debt as per race. 

Ethnicities	Average Cost Of Master’s Degree
Asian	$74,510
Black or African American	$64,390
Hispano or Latino	$52,820
White	$51,690
Two or more races	$50,270

Source: NCES. 

1. Around 53.7% of White students and 72.9% of Latinos or Hispanics borrowed money to pay up for their master’s degree.

2. Hispanic students use less financial aid. On the other hand, Asian students are more likely to borrow from private student loan programs. 

Average Cost Of Online Master’s Degree

Online degree programs might help students to save money on traveling, living, and other campus-related expenses. 

The below data displays the median cost of the master’s degree online program as well as the in-person or hybrid programs for the year 2022. 

Program	Tuition Cost	Total Cost
Fully online program	$8,295	$21,768
In-person or Hybrid program	$11,734	$28,026

Source: NCES PowerStats. 

1. The average cost of an online program of a master’s degree is 20% cheaper as compared to that of an in-person or hybrid program. 

2. As per some studies, the average cost of a master’s degree online program from a public University was found to be $37,920. 

3. The cost of the most affordable online program for a master’s degree ranges between $4000 to $7000 per year. 

Master’s Degree Total Cost For One Year In Percentile 

The cost structure of a master’s degree program ranges widely. Given below is the total cost of a master’s degree in percentile for the year 2022 (Here, the tenth percentile means 10% of schools charge lower than the stated tuition fee).

Percentile	Total Cost
10	$8,671
25	$15,551
50	$25,566
75	$39,926
90	$59,791

Source: NCES PowerStats 

How Students Pay Up For Their Master’s Degree

Students use several ways, such as savings, their earnings, borrowings, scholarships, grants, or some external contributions, to pay up for their master’s degree. 

Type Of Degree	Student Borrowing	Student Earning	Grants And Scholarships	External Contributors.
Education majors	54%	29%	9%	9%
Engineering majors	32%	30%	21%	17%
MBA Majors	54%	37%	6%	3%
Humanities and Arts Majors	44%	27%	19%	8%
Law Majors	60%	18%	20%	2%
Maths and Science majors	46%	23%	21%	10%
Health Science majors	57%	15%	19%	7%

Source: erudera. 

1. Student income and savings covered around 8% of total college costs, whereas 2% of college costs was covered by borrowing from relatives and friends. 

2. 11% of the college fees were covered by student borrowing, while 9% was covered by parent borrowing. 

3. Scholarships and grants contributes about an average of $3,715 and cover 15% of total college expenses. 

How Many Students Take Loans To Get A Master’s Degree?

Depending upon the type of school, the below data represents the percentage of students who took loans and their debt amount for the year 2015-16. 

To learn more about percent of students with debt and the average debt amount, go through the below data. 

Type Of School	Percent Of Students With Debt.	Average Debt Amount
Public school	57%	$54,500
Private (non-profit school)	60%	$71,900
Private (for-profit school)	71%	$90,300

Source: National Center for Education Statistics. 

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Conclusion: Average Cost Of Master’s Degree (2024)

As per the study, it is demonstrated that most of the people with master’s degrees earn more income as compared to individuals with bachelor’s degrees. 

Even though the pricing of a master’s degree runs up to the number of dollars, there are several financial aids available to help students pay up for their degree. 

Pursuing a master’s degree online can also be a great alternative to save money as compared to attending in-person degree programs. 

Here’s a wrap of the average cost of a master’s degree. I hope the article was helpful. Let us know your thoughts on them in the comments section below. 

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