College dataData from U.S. Dept of EducationUpdated May 2026 · 4 min read
Data: 2026-05 Next refresh: Nov 2026

Colorado School of Mines: Cost, Graduate Salary, Acceptance Rate and Return on Investment

Colorado School of Mines is a public college in Golden, CO. Students pay about $28,690 a year in net price, and the median graduate earns $97,335 ten years after enrolling. By our Degree-ROI measure the degree pays back in about 2.7 years and adds $368,590 over a decade, ranking it #27 of 918 (top 4%) by value added.

Avg net price / yr
$28,690
Median salary (10 yrs)
$97,335
10-yr value added
$368,590
Acceptance rate
60.7%

What is Colorado School of Mines's acceptance rate?

Colorado School of Mines has an acceptance rate of 60.7%, which makes it moderately selective. It is a public institution in Golden, CO enrolling about 6,155 students, with a 80.9% graduation rate.

How much does Colorado School of Mines cost?

Colorado School of Mines costs about $28,690 per year in average net price, what a typical student actually pays after grants and scholarships. Over four years, including typical borrowing, that totals roughly $137,760. Published sticker cost of attendance is $40,560 per year.

How much do Colorado School of Mines graduates earn?

Ten years after enrolling, the median Colorado School of Mines student earns $97,335 per year. That is $50,635 more than the $46,700 that the typical worker with only a high-school diploma earns.

Is Colorado School of Mines worth it? Degree ROI and payback period

Colorado School of Mines pays back its roughly $137,760 cost in about 2.7 years, then keeps returning the earnings premium. Over the first decade the degree adds about $368,590 net of cost, a 3.68x return on the money invested. That ranks it #27 of 918 (top 4%) by value added. Its top-tier value is driven mainly by strong graduate earnings and a high graduation rate.

Top 10% value

Colorado School of Mines graduation rate and student debt

80.9% of Colorado School of Mines students complete their degree, and the median graduate leaves with $23,000 in federal student debt. That debt is about 24% of one year of median graduate earnings.

Colorado School of Mines by the numbers (vs the typical college)

How Colorado School of Mines compares to the median four-year college in our snapshot. Percentile is its rank among the 918 colleges that report both earnings and cost (higher is better).

MetricThis schoolMedian collegePercentile
Avg net price / yr$28,690$20,299cheaper than 21%
Median earnings (10 yrs)$97,335$54,76897th
Graduation rate80.9%57.0%89th
Acceptance rate60.7%75.7%more selective than 74%
10-yr value added$368,590-$28,19297th
ROI multiple (per $1)3.68x0.73x94th
Payback period2.7 yrs8.8 yrsfaster than 92%
How we compute Degree value-add & ROI. Investment basis = average net price × 4 years + median debt (net price preferred; published sticker cost used as a fallback). Earnings premium = median earnings 10 years after entry minus the $46,700 typical earnings of a worker with only a high-school diploma (BLS Current Population Survey, median annual earnings for workers with a high-school diploma and no college (~$899/week, 2023)). Degree value-add = premium × 10 years minus total cost, the net return of the degree itself over a high-school career (it can be negative). ROI multiple = 10-year premium ÷ cost. Payback = cost ÷ annual premium. Ranked by value-add among the 918 four-year colleges in this snapshot that report both earnings and cost; 226 of them do not pay back at ten years. Missing values are excluded, never estimated.
Open data: these figures come from the public College Scorecard (public domain). Our computed Degree value-add, ROI multiple, and payback are free to cite/reuse under CC-BY 4.0.

Frequently asked

Is Colorado School of Mines worth the cost compared to other colleges?

By value added net of cost, Colorado School of Mines ranks #27 of 918 (top 4%) of the 918 four-year colleges we rank, and returns about 3.68x the money invested over a decade.

Is Colorado School of Mines expensive compared to other colleges?

Its $28,690 average net price is above the $20,299 median for the colleges in this snapshot, making it cheaper than 21% of them.

Do Colorado School of Mines graduates earn more than average?

Median earnings of $97,335 ten years out are above the $54,768 median, higher than 97% of the colleges here.

How hard is it to get into Colorado School of Mines compared to other colleges?

Its 60.7% acceptance rate is below the 75.7% median, making it more selective than 74% of the colleges in the snapshot.

Federal data behind this page

What a programme costs, what its graduates earn, and what aid is available are published by federal statistical agencies rather than by any provider's marketing page, and the sources below are the primary ones. They are linked so a reader can check a figure here directly.

This page compares programmes on published data. Outcomes vary by student, and a reader's own aid package and circumstances decide what a programme actually costs them.

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