The New School Career Outcomes: $57K Median Earnings (2026)

How much do The New School graduates earn?

The reported median is $56,719 four years after completion. The peer comparison uses $68,250 as its benchmark; the difference is -$11,531 per year.

Azimuth places The New School at the 30th percentile for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Among federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled, the median four years after completion is $56,719, at the 38th percentile.

That is $11,531 below the $68,250 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Graduates earn about $14,691 less than expects for similar students.

That places the gap in the 9th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) subtracts $1,201.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $13,490. Within the measured factors, the STEM component subtracts $49.

The schoolwide earnings figure masks a broad range across fields. Earnings scenarios run from $39,639 in the downside case to $74,398 in the upside case, with $56,719 as the typical scenario.

These are earnings scenarios, not observed groups, and 13 programs have published earnings data. The higher-earning fields illustrate the upper end: Computer Software and Media Applications has median earnings of $75,792 four years after completion; Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management reaches $74,936; and Radio, Television, and Digital Communication reaches $64,018.

Those field-level figures show why the scenarios should not be read as a single outcome for every graduate.

Reading The New School’s four-year earnings requires keeping later study in view. An estimated 22.3% of graduates continue to graduate study, an estimate derived from program mix rather than observed enrollment.

Because the earnings measure covers federally aided completers working and not enrolled, it describes the workforce portion at that point.

Median earnings · four years after completion: $56,719
Rank for difference from expectations: 9th percentile

Four-year median earnings against two benchmarks

The New School reported median: $56,719
Peer schools comparable schools · $11,531 above The New School: $68,250
Model expectation what similar students would be expected to earn · $14,691 above The New School: $71,410

School and program earnings use pooled 2017–18 and 2018–19 completion cohorts, measured in 2022 and 2023 and expressed in 2024 dollars. How the model works.

How could earnings differ from the median?

Earnings four years after completion

Planning rangeReported median

Lower estimate: $39,639
Median · reported: $56,719
Higher estimate: $74,398

Downside shows a lower-earning scenario based on the college’s mix of programs; upside shows a higher-earning scenario. Typical is the school’s reported median four years after completion. These are planning scenarios, not a forecast of your salary or percentiles of individual graduates.

Why the downside matters explores the risk hidden by medians, using older ten-year entrant data. Read about the move to four-year earnings.

Do The New School graduates earn more than expected?

Azimuth models what we would expect graduates to earn based on who the college enrolls, how selective it is and its local economy. The difference between that expectation and reported earnings is what Azimuth calls value added.

The New School graduates’ reported earnings are $14,691 below that expectation, the 9th percentile for this measure. Unlike a peer comparison, it adjusts for who enrolls.

The breakdown separates the contribution attributed to observed factors from the remaining difference. Neither component establishes how much attending The New School caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at The New School report the highest earnings?

At The New School, program earnings span higher-earning digital and media fields and more moderate arts fields four years after completion. Computer Software and Media Applications reports median earnings of $75,792 and awarded 174 degrees.

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management is close behind, with $74,936 in median earnings and 150 degrees awarded. The larger Design and Applied Arts program sits in the middle at $56,838, alongside 476 degrees awarded.

Film/Video and Photographic Arts is more moderate, reporting $48,557 and 107 degrees awarded. These fields show that the school’s four-year earnings picture varies substantially by field, including among programs with sizable numbers of degrees awarded.

Visual & Performing Arts accounts for 61.7% of bachelor’s degrees awarded, making program choice especially important at The New School. Published earnings data cover 13 bachelor’s programs.

Among the largest fields, Design and Applied Arts awarded 476 degrees and its completers had median earnings of $56,838 four years after completion. Computer Software and Media Applications awarded 174 degrees, with median earnings of $75,792, while Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management awarded 150 degrees and showed $74,936.

The larger arts presence sits alongside markedly higher earnings in the software and media applications field.

Further analysis

Computer Software and Media Applications anchors the higher end at median earnings of $75,792 four years after completion, whereas Music is the lowest-earning among the largest programs at $32,930. The downside, typical, and upside earnings scenarios, grounded in the program mix, are $39,639, $56,719, and $74,398. Their range shows substantial variation in earnings by field.

Four years after completing a degree, graduates of The New School earn a median of $56,719, based on an earnings cohort of 1,280 completers. That figure is $11,531 below the $68,250 median for comparable institutions (same type and size), and it sits at the 38th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Graduates earn about $14,691 less than the model expects for similar students. That result falls at the 9th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios from the program mix run from $39,639 on the downside to $74,398 on the upside, with $56,719 as the typical estimate. These are estimates, not observed outcomes.

Based on the program mix, an estimated 22.3% of graduates continue to graduate study.

Data & methodology

Sources and reporting periods: methodology.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.