Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools H-1B Wage Premium
The DOL prevailing wage is the legal minimum an employer must pay for a given role, level, and location — not a target. Employers classified under Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (NAICS 6113) pay a median of 20.7% above that floor, but 19.5% of filings are at or within 1% of the legal minimum.
What "Wage Premium" Means
Every H-1B Labor Condition Application states a DOL-determined prevailing wage — the minimum legally required for that occupation, experience level, and worksite. Wage premium is how much an employer's actual offered wage exceeds that floor. A 0% premium means the filing states exactly the legal minimum; it is not evidence of a problem, but it means the offered wage carries no information beyond what the law already requires.
Premium varies enormously by employer within the same industry — some pay the floor on every filing, others consistently pay well above it. The table below is not a ranking of employer quality; it measures one thing only: how each employer's offered wage compares to the legal minimum for Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools filings.
Employers Paying Furthest Above the Floor
| Employer | Certified Filings | Avg. Premium |
|---|---|---|
| LSU Health Sciences Center - Shreveport | 161 | +239.2% |
| LSU Health Sciences Center | 82 | +222.5% |
| Medical University of South Carolina and Affiliates | 224 | +180.5% |
| Southern Illinois University School of Medicine | 90 | +175.4% |
| Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso | 72 | +157.8% |
| West Virginia University | 438 | +141.9% |
| Marshall University | 120 | +125.1% |
| Eastern Virginia Medical School | 30 | +120.8% |
Employers with at least 30 certified filings in this industry, ranked by average premium over prevailing wage.
Related H-1B Data
H1B Visa Jobs Research Team
Computed from US Department of Labor LCA disclosure files for employers classified under NAICS 6113 — Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools — comparing each filing's offered annual wage to its own DOL prevailing wage figure (annualized from an hourly rate where filed hourly), filtered to certified petitions with annual wages between $30K and $1M and a positive prevailing wage on file. Per-employer premium is shown only where an employer has at least 30 qualifying filings in this industry, to keep the percentage from being driven by a handful of cases.