From College to Homeownership: How Undergraduate Major, Salary, and Student Loan Debt Are Associated with Housing Outcomes in the United States

Homeownership has become increasingly difficult for many college graduates in the United States. This quantitative study examines the conditional associations among undergraduate major, post-college income, student loan debt, and homeownership using restricted data from the 2021 College and Beyond II Alumni Survey. Grounded in Human Capital Theory and informed by Status Attainment Theory as a secondary interpretive perspective, the study analyzes a sample of 2513 college graduates approximately a decade after degree completion. Logistic regression models examine differences in the conditional odds of homeownership across undergraduate major categories while accounting for post-college economics, student loans, and demographic characteristics. The findings indicate that arts and humanities graduates had lower conditional odds of homeownership than graduates did in the STEM-health, business, education, and social science fields. Higher salary and other household income were associated with higher conditional odds of homeownership, whereas student loan default and higher monthly loan payments were associated with lower conditional odds. Ever borrowing was also positively associated with homeownership, although this relationship should not be interpreted as evidence that student borrowing causes or facilitates homeownership. The findings highlight the complex relationships among educational pathways, post-college economic circumstances, student loan experiences, and homeownership and underscore the need for further research on the long-term financial outcomes associated with higher education.