Quad
U. Southern California
Columbia

Key differences on Outcomes

  1. 1

    Columbia grads earn $10K more ten years out than U. Southern California's ($102,491 vs. $92,498)

    Median earnings, 10 yrs
  2. 2

    U. Southern California graduates 0 pts more of its students than Columbia (93% vs. 93%)

    Graduation rate

Outcomes

Outcomes

Earnings and finishing

Median earnings, 10 yrs
U. Southern California$92.5K
Columbia$102.5K
Graduation rate
U. Southern California93%
Columbia93%
Retention rate
U. Southern California95%
Columbia98%

Borrowing

Median debt
U. Southern California$18K
Columbia$21.5K
Undergrads with a federal loan
U. Southern California24%
Columbia14%
Median debt, Pell Grant recipients
U. Southern California$17.1K
Columbia$21.6K

Eight-year outcomes

Credential within 4 years, all students
U. Southern California83%
Columbia84%
Credential within 8 years, all students
U. Southern California93%
Columbia94%
Enrolled at another college, 8 years on
U. Southern California3%
Columbia1%

Graduation by group

Graduated in 6 years, Pell Grant recipients
U. Southern California90%
Columbia93%
Graduated in 6 years, neither Pell nor subsidized loan
U. Southern California92%
Columbia97%
Pell graduation gap
U. Southern California2 pts lower
Columbia4 pts lower

Graduated in 6 years, by race and ethnicity

GroupU. Southern CaliforniaColumbia
White92%97%
Asian95%99%
Hispanic/Latino91%94%
Black85%97%
Two or more races92%96%
International91%93%

All outcome numbers in the table

Sources:College Scorecard, most recent release;University of Southern California Common Data Set 2025–26, Entered fall 2024;College Scorecard, 2023–24;IPEDS Outcome Measures survey, Students entering fall 2016;IPEDS Graduation Rates survey (Pell Grant and subsidized loan recipients), Entered fall 2018;Columbia University in the City of New York Common Data Set 2025–26, Entered fall 2024About the data(retrieved 2026-10-12)

Figures are the newest each college has published; years can differ between colleges. Each value's ⓘ shows its source and year. Why