Computer and Information Sciences at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

UTRGV's computer science program produces outcomes that look modest nationally but tell a more complete story when you consider the region and the student body it serves. With graduates earning around $50,000 their first year and climbing to $58,000 by year four, these numbers land below both Texas and national medians for the field. Among Texas programs, this places graduates near the middle of the pack—not competing with UT Austin or Texas A&M, but serving a different mission for a different population.

The real strength here is debt management. At just over $16,000 in median debt, graduates owe roughly one-third of their first-year salary and significantly less than the typical CS student in Texas ($23,250) or nationally ($25,000). For a school where 64% of students receive Pell grants, keeping debt this low matters enormously. Your child would leave with marketable tech skills and a payment burden that won't derail their early career.

The tradeoff is straightforward: lower earnings potential in exchange for far less financial risk. If your student has options at higher-ranked Texas programs and can manage the likely higher costs, those schools deliver substantially better outcomes. But if affordability is the priority and your child needs to stay in the Rio Grande Valley region, this program offers a genuine path into technology work without the crushing debt that often comes with it.