Home > Education > College vs Bootcamp/Trade School
See what the numbers mean. Learn how the comparison works. Leave with a wider view of the decision.
Enter your numbers for both paths. Bootcamps train for specific fields (mainly tech/coding roles) — this tool defaults to a computer-science-track comparison so both sides target the same kind of job; swap in your own field's numbers for other majors or trades. We project each year's earnings, cost, and loan payments over your career, then account for the time value of money.
College vs Bootcamp is a decision-making model, not a financial aid calculator. It estimates the relative lifetime value of each path using published earnings and cost data plus clearly stated modeling assumptions.
⚠ Estimates only, not financial advice — see the note below the results for details. US only for now.
Loan repayment term isn't an input — it's set automatically by the federal Tiered Standard Repayment Plan, based on each side's own loan balance.
Estimate only — not financial, legal, or investment advice.
Each line already includes every adjustment above it — this isn't a list to add up. Compare using the bottom line only.
Estimates only, not financial advice. Uses 2026 federal tax brackets plus an approximate state rate. Both paths finance their program cost with a loan; interest capitalizes until the program ends and is then repaid on the federal Tiered Standard Repayment Plan (for loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026), which sets the term automatically by the balance at that point: 10 years under $25,000, 15 years for $25,000-$49,999, 20 years for $50,000-$99,999, and 25 years for $100,000+. Repayment starts as soon as post-program income begins — for college, the year after graduation; for the bootcamp/trade path, the same year the program finishes, since income already blends training-period and post-program pay within that year. Federal student loan interest is deductible up to $2,500/year of interest paid, applied here as a reduction to taxable income in each repayment year. Stage 4 converts each year's net cash flow to its future value at your investment return rate, so the final number reflects not just how much each path pays, but when.
College vs Bootcamp/Trade School projects both paths year by year over your chosen career horizon, then runs the totals through four stages to estimate which one leaves you with more estimated real-terms value.
College sums any income during the program (often $0 for full-time study) plus your post-graduation salary with raises, for the years after you finish. Bootcamp/trade does the same, but because these programs are usually just months long, most of your first year already counts as working income.
Each year's earnings are taxed using current federal brackets plus an approximate state rate for your city, then summed across the horizon.
Tuition, fees, and living costs (college) or program tuition (bootcamp/trade) are financed with a loan. Interest accrues during the program and capitalizes at completion, then the balance is repaid starting the year after you finish on the federal Tiered Standard Repayment Plan, which sets the term automatically (10-25 years) based on how large the balance is. Those loan payments are subtracted from the years they're actually paid.
A dollar earned in year one can compound for the rest of the horizon; a dollar earned in year four (or year ten) can't. We convert each year's net cash flow to its future value at your investment return rate, so the final number reflects not just how much each path pays, but when the money actually arrives.
A few terms worth knowing before you compare — this site is built to help you see the fuller picture, not just crunch numbers.
Quick check
Think you've got these 3 terms down?
A few more angles worth exploring — the numbers above are only part of the full picture.
No. College vs Bootcamp/Trade School gives a directional estimate to help you think through a decision, not a substitute for a financial advisor or career counselor. Real outcomes depend heavily on your field, school, program quality, and local job market in ways a general calculator can't capture.
We currently support a set of major US cities for the state tax approximation. Use the "View supported cities" button at the top of the page for the full list. This calculator is US-only for now.
A four-year college program means four years of little or no income plus tuition and loan interest, while a several-month bootcamp or trade program gets you earning almost immediately. Extra years of compounding income can outweigh a higher eventual salary — which is exactly the tradeoff this tool is built to show. A large enough salary gap, or a long enough career horizon, can still tip the balance back toward college.
$25,850/year combines the College Board's 2025-26 average published tuition and fees for a public four-year in-state institution ($11,950) with average room and board ($13,900). The $76,251 starting salary comes from NACE's Class of 2025 starting salary survey for computer science graduates — matched to the same field bootcamp graduates enter, rather than an all-majors average, since bootcamps train specifically for tech roles. The 6.52% loan rate is the official federal Direct Loan rate for undergraduates for loans first disbursed between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027.
$14,142 and a roughly 14-week (about 3.5-month) program length reflect Course Report's 2025-26 industry data across hundreds of coding bootcamps. $69,000 reflects Course Report's reported average first-job salary for bootcamp graduates. For a trade school instead of a coding bootcamp, typical costs run $5,000-$20,000 for programs of 6-18 months, with starting salaries varying widely by trade — edit the fields to match your specific program.
Yes, enormously — this is the single biggest limitation of any generic version of this comparison. Bootcamps exist almost entirely for tech roles, so this tool's college-side default ($76,251) is a computer-science starting salary, matched to the same field, rather than an all-majors average. A different major (nursing, business, engineering, education) or a different trade program has no fixed relationship to these numbers — some fields start well above $76,251, others well below. Always replace the salary and raise fields with figures specific to the actual field and program you're evaluating; don't treat this tool's defaults as a general "is college worth it" answer.
Your inputs are only used in your browser to calculate a result. If you use the "Copy shareable link" button, your inputs are encoded directly into that URL — nothing is stored on a server.
Rate data: 2026