Is a Degree Worth It vs Bootcamp?

On average yes — but it depends heavily on your major, the school's cost, and your career path. Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce found that bachelor's degree holders earn $1.2 million more over a lifetime than high school graduates. However high-cost degrees in low-paying fields can take 20+ years to pay off while lower-cost degrees in high-demand fields may pay back in 5-7 years.

Coding bootcamps typically cost $10,000-20,000 for a 12-24 week intensive program. Some bootcamps offer income share agreements where you pay nothing upfront and repay a percentage of income after getting a job. The average starting salary for bootcamp graduates is approximately $65,000-75,000 according to Course Report's annual survey.

This calculator models the full ROI including opportunity cost — the income you forgo while in school. A 4-year degree costs both tuition ($40,000-$200,000) and 4 years of forgone income. A bootcamp costs $10,000-20,000 and only 3-6 months of forgone income. The degree typically wins over 20+ years if the salary premium is large enough. Over 10 years the bootcamp often wins due to earlier entry into the workforce.

Yes — increasingly so. Major tech companies including Google Apple IBM and Microsoft have removed degree requirements for many roles. Bootcamp graduates regularly land software engineering roles at competitive salaries. However a computer science degree still provides advantages for certain roles particularly at larger companies, graduate school paths, and fields like machine learning that have deep theoretical requirements.

Opportunity cost in education is the income you give up while attending school rather than working. A 4-year degree at age 22 means forgoing approximately 4 years of entry-level income — often $50,000-70,000 per year totaling $200,000-280,000 in forgone earnings. This is often larger than the tuition cost itself and is the primary reason why lower-cost faster-completion programs can have better short-term ROI.

Enormously. Georgetown CEW research shows median earnings by major range from $29,000 (early childhood education) to $80,000+ (petroleum and chemical engineering). STEM degrees consistently show the highest ROI while arts and humanities degrees at expensive schools sometimes never fully pay back the investment. This calculator lets you input your specific expected salary — use BLS OES data for your target career to get the most accurate result.