What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Religious Music and Worship
Religious Music and Worship is tracked across 124 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 bachelor'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.
Across all reporting institutions, the mean of school-level medians is $34,016, calculated from 6 schools with published earnings data. The earnings distribution stretches from $25,774 at the low end to $51,701 at the top, with a 25th-75th percentile band between $27,765 and $39,457 around a median of $29,713. The top-reporting institution in this program is Liberty University at $51,701. These numbers reflect earnings measured roughly a year after completion, using Social Security Administration tax records linked to federal financial aid applicants.
Variation across schools matters more than a single national figure. Completers counts reported per school indicate how many graduates’ earnings feed the median, which means small programs produce more volatile numbers. Median debt at the program level, when paired with earnings, yields a debt-to-earnings ratio that is the College Scorecard’s standard affordability signal — ratios under 1.0 indicate earnings exceed cumulative debt. Use the school-by-school table to spot institutions where Religious Music and Worship graduates out-earn peers at comparable cost, and to surface gainful-employment patterns that only become visible at the CIP-code level.
Liberty University accounts for 67.0% of all Religious Music and Worship bachelor's credential graduates
That concentration — well above the 5% national median for largest-entity share — means Religious Music and Worship-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. That school produced 61 graduates in the most recent cohort, anchoring a meaningful slice of national supply for this field. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Religious Music and Worship bachelor's credential median earnings varies 2.0× across entities
Religious Music and Worship bachelor's credential median earnings ranges from $25,774 (lowest) to $51,701 (highest), a spread of $25,927. That spread reflects typical sectoral variation between selective research institutions and broader access institutions. Earnings are measured roughly one year after completion using IRS records linked to federal aid recipients (see https://www.irs.gov/) — not all completers are captured, but the school-level medians correlate strongly with longer-term earnings trajectories.
Religious Music and Worship debt-to-earnings ratio is 0.60 — near the typical range (US average ~1) — aligned with the typical 1:1 ratio that defines federal gainful-employment thresholds
debt-to-earnings ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: this ratio uses federal loan principal, not all education debt — private loans, parent PLUS loans not in the borrower’s name, and institutional debt are excluded Variation between sub-units within Religious Music and Worship is typically wider than the Religious Music and Worship-aggregate figure suggests.
Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field of Study file. Median earnings represent graduates who received federal financial aid, drawn from U.S. Treasury tax records linked to federal student aid applicants. Completers count and debt figures reflect program-level data reported through IPEDS. Data is updated annually.