Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences
What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences
Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences is tracked across 127 U.S. postsecondary institutions in the College Scorecard field-of-study file, which links CIP code classifications from IPEDS to Treasury earnings records. This profile covers the associate's credential level specifically, because the Department of Education reports program-level outcomes separately for associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral awards. The CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) taxonomy lets analysts roll up specialties into broader families, which is why earnings medians across schools can be compared on a common basis.
A national average earnings figure is not available for this field because too few institutions publish the cohort. These numbers reflect Treasury-derived wages, deferred compensation, and positive self-employment earnings four years after completion for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled.
Variation across schools matters more than a single national figure. Completer counts and earnings cohort counts are distinct source fields, so the displayed completer count should not be assumed to be the earnings denominator. PlainCollege's debt-to-earnings ratio divides median federal debt by annual median earnings as a descriptive comparison; it is not the Department's formal gainful-employment test. Use the school-by-school table to compare reported outcomes while accounting for cohort size, suppression, program mix, and location.
Top Schools for This Program
| School Name | State | Awards (latest year) | Median Earnings (4 yrs after completion) | Median Debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Fear Community College | NC | - | $39,927 at 2 yrs | - |
Awards and earnings come from different reference periods, so they are not a count and an average of the same people. Awards is the number of credentials the school reported for the latest IPEDS year; median earnings is measured four years after completion, for a separate pooled cohort of earlier graduates. A school can therefore report zero awards in the latest year and still have earnings on record. The earnings figure is not the awards figure’s average, and the awards count is not the earnings sample size. Schools are ranked on the four-year earnings figure only, so every row is compared on the same basis.
Compare beyond the CIP family
Nationwide peers by school count & four-year earnings
Cross-field programs at the same credential level nearest Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences on school-count breadth (127 schools). Peers exclude the same two-digit CIP family so neighborhoods are not CIP-containment siblings. School-count peers include Human Resources Management and Services, Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants, Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas. Neighborhoods are forced disjoint so each axis surfaces a different set of programs.
Similar school count
Nearest programs (≥50 schools) by absolute school-count breadth, outside this CIP family.
- Human Resources Management and Services CIP 5210 · $54,291 mean 4-yr 127 schools
- Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants CIP 5139 · $63,980 mean 4-yr 129 schools
- Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas CIP 1313 · $34,368 mean 4-yr 147 schools
- Information Science/Studies CIP 1104 · $62,798 mean 4-yr 100 schools
Frequently Asked Questions
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Top Schools for Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences
Closest schools offering this program – compare earnings side by side
About This Data
Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field of Study file retrieved in March 2026. The program metric displayed here represents federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled four years after credential completion, using Treasury-derived records published through the Scorecard. Completer counts and debt figures come from the same field-of-study snapshot; the Department refreshes components on schedules documented in its changelog, not one fixed annual date.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Earnings data sourced from IRS records via the U.S. Treasury–Department of Education matching protocol used by the College Scorecard.