Graduates From These New York City Colleges Make the Most Money

NEW YORK, NY — If you're curious about what your fellow city college graduates are making, the Department of Education let people in on a little secret. It doesn't hurt to have a degree from Columbia University or NYU when looking for a job, but it's more about the field you go into that determines how much money you'll be making.

The U.S. Department of Education recently released data on what salaries people are making after they attend college, and it pays to go into the medical field. On the other end of the spectrum, for all the fun art school entails, it doesn't exactly pay the bills after college.

Fifty-eight colleges in New York City were studied, and the top post-graduation salaries were peppered with medical schools. SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn had the highest post-grad salary among city schools at an average of $128,000. Two of the next three schools were also in the medical field. Helene Fuld College of Nursing in East Harlem was No. 2 at an average salary of $84,200 and St. Paul's School of Nursing on Staten Island was fourth at $74,800.

Sandwiched in-between the two nursing schools was the school you might expect to find at the top: Columbia University. Manhattan College, New York University, Pace, Fordham, Yeshiva University and Baruch College round out the top 10.

You'll also notice a similar theme among some of the lower-ranking schools. It doesn't necessarily pay to be an actor or musician. The Julliard School ($29,000), American Academy of Dramatic Arts ($27,800) and Manhattan School of Music ($19,000) all rank in the bottom 10 spots.

Patch broke down the full rankings below:

1. SUNY Downstate Medical Center: $128,000
2. Helene Fuld College of Nursing: $84,200
3. Columbia University: $75,200
4. St. Paul's School of Nursing-Staten Island: $74,800
5. Manhattan College: $61,700
6. New York University: $58,800
7. Pace University: $57,700
8. Fordham University: $56,200
9. Yeshiva University: $56,000
10. CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College: $54,900
11. Cooper Union: $53,800
12. St. John’s University: $52,700
13. Saint Joseph's College-New York: $52,000
14. College of Mount Saint Vincent: $50,600
15. Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology: $48,700
16. CUNY Queens College: $47,500
17. LIM College: $47,300
18. St. Francis College: $47,200
19. CUNY City College: $45,800
20. Fashion Institute of Technology: $45,200
21. CUNY Hunter College: $45,000
22. LIU Brooklyn: $44,600
23. CUNY Brooklyn College: $44,500
24. CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice: $42,400
25. Pratt Institute: $40,900
26. The New School: $40,700
27. College of Staten Island CUNY: $40,600
28. CUNY Lehman College: $40,400
29. School of Visual Arts: $39,800
30. Berkeley College-New York: $39,000
31. CUNY York College: $38,700
32. Marymount Manhattan College: $38,100
33. CUNY New York City College of Technology: $37,500
34. Metropolitan College of New York: $37,000
35. New York School of Interior Design: $36,500
36. CUNY Kingsborough Community College: $35,300
37. CUNY Medgar Evers College: $35,000
38. CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College: $34,500
39. New York Career Institute: $34,200
40. Technical Career Institutes: $32,700
41. CUNY LaGuardia Community College: $32,600
42. Wood Tobe-Coburn School: $32,300
43. CUNY Bronx Community College: $32,100
44. Boricua College: $31,300
45. New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts: $31,200
46. Swedish Institute a College of Health Sciences: $31,000
47. CUNY Hostos Community College: $30,700
48. The Art Institute of New York City: $30,400
49. Mandl School-The College of Allied Health: $29,700
50. Touro College: $29,400
51. The Juilliard School: $29,000
52. Globe Institute of Technology: $28,900
53. American Academy of Dramatic Arts-New York: $27,800
54. Monroe College: $27,400
55. American Musical and Dramatic Academy: $26,800
56. ASA College: $24,100
57. Mildred Elley-New York Campus: $23,300
58. Manhattan School of Music: $19,300

Photo Credit: Jim Henderson via Wikimedia Commons