Is Indiana University-Southeast Worth It?

Indiana University-Southeast is cheap to attend and pays off modestly if you finish, but finishing is the problem. At $8,257 a year in net price with $19,684 in median debt, you take on less loan burden than at most four-year schools, and median earnings clear that debt comfortably a decade out. The catch is the 33.40% graduation rate and 69.79% retention. Nearly a third of you won't come back after year one, and two-thirds won't graduate,and debt with no degree is the worst financial outcome here.

Your major decides everything. Computer Science pays $69,338, roughly $25,000 more than Business or the General Computer and Information Sciences track, which land in the mid-$40,000s despite the similar name. Nursing pays $58,025 on under $17,000 of debt, one of the strongest cost-to-earnings ratios on this list. Teacher Education sits at the bottom near $38,829, and if you're paying the full net price, that salary makes repayment slow.

The net price tiers reward lower-income families sharply. If your family earns under $48,000, you pay around $4,300-$4,600 a year. Above $75,000, that jumps past $12,700,roughly triple,so middle- and upper-income families carry most of the sticker cost with no comparable break.

This school fits you if you're a lower-income Indiana student going into nursing or computer science and confident you'll finish. It fits you poorly if you're likely to drop out, since the completion odds here are against you, or if you're headed into teaching or general business at the higher price tiers, where the earnings don't stretch far. Pick a high-earning major and commit to graduating, or the math stops working.