Is Thiel College Worth It?

Thiel College gives you a mixed-to-weak financial return. You pay close to $23,000 a year net, borrow a median $27,000, and end up earning about $49,700 ten years out. That earnings figure sits above what your top-listed majors report at graduation, which tells you the median gets pulled up by fields not broken out here, or by later-career gains. The 43.5% graduation rate is the biggest problem: fewer than half of you finish, and debt without a degree is the worst outcome on this page.

Among the programs listed, accounting and business administration are your safest bets, landing near $44,000 and $42,000. Special education, criminal justice, and communication all pay less, with communication trailing around $30,800. If you carry the median $27,000 in debt on a communication or criminal justice salary, your monthly loan payments eat a much larger share of your paycheck than they would for an accounting graduate. Pick your major deliberately here. the spread between the top and bottom listed program is over $13,000 a year.

The net price tiers are unusually flat. Families earning under $30,000 pay about $19,700, and families over $110,000 pay $26,200. That $6,500 gap is small, so lower-income families get less discounting relative to their means than at schools with steeper sliding scales. If your family earns under $48,000, you pay nearly the same as the next tier up, and you should compare that $19,700 against in-state public options.

Thiel fits you if you're committed to accounting or business and confident you'll graduate. If you're undecided, drawn to the lower-paying majors, or at risk of leaving before finishing, the combination of a 43.5% grad rate and $27,000 in typical debt makes this a risky place to spend the money.