Bachelor's degree · Visual and performing arts · CIP 50.04
Design and Applied Arts: earnings and debt by college
The College Scorecard lists 602 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Design and Applied Arts, together awarding 20,135 of these degrees in the most recent year. At the median institution, graduates who received federal aid earn $39,430 one year after finishing and $57,432 five years after finishing (two separate graduating classes). The median institution's graduates leave with $25,042 in federal student loans.
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Compare Design and Applied Arts programs on one chart
Pick any two measures. Hover a dot to see the college; click it to open the college's page.
Each dot is one institution's program; branch campuses share their institution's figures and appear as one dot. Dashed lines mark the median for all colleges. Showing 202 of 582; programs missing either value are left out (the Scorecard withholds figures for small programs).
Colleges with a bachelor's in Design and Applied Arts
| Southern New Hampshire University Manchester · Private nonprofit | NH | 803 | $41,693 | $54,577 | $28,333 |
| Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah · Private nonprofit | GA | 643 | $31,174 | $48,511 | $24,816 |
| Fashion Institute of Technology New York · Public | NY | 567 | $43,249 | $65,298 | $21,500 |
| The New School New York · Private nonprofit | NY | 472 | $35,974 | $66,037 | $25,000 |
| Pratt Institute-Main Brooklyn · Private nonprofit | NY | 373 | $39,579 | $66,555 | $26,000 |
| Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond · Public | VA | 353 | $34,780 | $58,173 | $22,294 |
| Full Sail University Winter Park · Private for-profit | FL | 324 | $36,655 | $44,576 | $40,799 |
| School of Visual Arts New York · Private for-profit | NY | 300 | $22,072 | $48,108 | $27,000 |
| Columbia College Chicago Chicago · Private nonprofit | IL | 294 | $38,905 | $52,054 | $26,219 |
| University of California-Davis Davis · Public | CA | 291 | $38,255 | $72,382 | $12,753 |
| Ana G. Mendez University Orlando · Private nonprofit | FL | 282 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Kent State University at Kent Kent · Public | OH | 282 | $44,403 | $59,099 | $25,000 |
| Iowa State University Ames · Public | IA | 245 | $45,054 | $54,670 | $26,000 |
| Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe · Public | AZ | 223 | $44,918 | $65,137 | $19,100 |
| Liberty University Lynchburg · Private nonprofit | VA | 218 | $35,080 | $50,303 | $21,500 |
| San Jose State University San Jose · Public | CA | 211 | n/a | $84,869 | $11,796 |
| Art Center College of Design Pasadena · Private nonprofit | CA | 198 | $45,205 | $81,862 | $27,625 |
| San Francisco State University San Francisco · Public | CA | 193 | $43,685 | $71,079 | $17,000 |
| Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester · Private nonprofit | NY | 173 | $42,257 | $64,211 | $27,000 |
| Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design Lakewood · Private for-profit | CO | 162 | $38,282 | $40,711 | $42,500 |
| Utah Valley University Orem · Public | UT | 161 | $39,259 | $57,412 | $17,850 |
| Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design Milwaukee · Private nonprofit | WI | 155 | $36,219 | $56,037 | $27,000 |
| University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz · Public | CA | 149 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Columbus College of Art & Design Columbus · Private nonprofit | OH | 147 | $31,765 | $49,301 | $27,000 |
| University of Wisconsin-Stout Menomonie · Public | WI | 143 | $45,619 | $62,918 | $24,208 |
| Michigan State University East Lansing · Public | MI | 135 | $42,052 | $54,525 | $18,750 |
| Auburn University Auburn · Public | AL | 133 | $51,089 | $65,540 | $25,000 |
| Otis College of Art and Design Los Angeles · Private nonprofit | CA | 133 | $38,585 | $59,769 | $27,000 |
| Ringling College of Art and Design Sarasota · Private nonprofit | FL | 133 | $27,554 | $48,276 | $27,000 |
| University of Cincinnati-Main Campus Cincinnati · Public | OH | 127 | $55,676 | $78,214 | $18,500 |
| University of North Texas Denton · Public | TX | 126 | $46,011 | $61,519 | $19,500 |
| Grand Canyon University Phoenix · Private nonprofit | AZ | 124 | $44,856 | n/a | $24,250 |
| Maryland Institute College of Art Baltimore · Private nonprofit | MD | 123 | $27,718 | $51,901 | $25,375 |
| California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona · Public | CA | 121 | $35,807 | $63,732 | $14,975 |
| Appalachian State University Boone · Public | NC | 120 | $42,862 | $59,135 | $20,500 |
| University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis · Public | MN | 119 | $49,401 | $66,416 | $22,250 |
| CUNY Queens College Queens · Public | NY | 118 | $34,278 | $50,433 | $10,646 |
| Oregon State University Corvallis · Public | OR | 115 | $45,925 | $60,741 | $21,854 |
| Drexel University Philadelphia · Private nonprofit | PA | 111 | $50,567 | $68,696 | $26,000 |
| Boise State University Boise · Public | ID | 109 | $38,300 | $38,778 | $22,500 |
| Massachusetts College of Art and Design Boston · Public | MA | 107 | $32,893 | $54,678 | $24,000 |
| Texas State University San Marcos · Public | TX | 105 | $46,898 | $65,631 | $22,405 |
| Syracuse University Syracuse · Private nonprofit | NY | 104 | $47,057 | $75,109 | $24,000 |
| Rhode Island School of Design Providence · Private nonprofit | RI | 101 | $27,941 | $75,040 | $27,000 |
| Northern Arizona University Flagstaff · Public | AZ | 100 | $40,942 | $56,841 | $18,985 |
| California State University-Chico Chico · Public | CA | 99 | $32,019 | $56,106 | $15,000 |
| California State University-Long Beach Long Beach · Public | CA | 99 | $48,917 | $67,445 | $18,478 |
| CUNY New York City College of Technology Brooklyn · Public | NY | 94 | $27,849 | $52,477 | $10,850 |
| Laguna College of Art and Design Laguna Beach · Private nonprofit | CA | 92 | $44,069 | $72,566 | $27,000 |
| West Virginia University Morgantown · Public | WV | 87 | $43,085 | $60,621 | $24,583 |
Quick facts: Design and Applied Arts
- How many colleges offer a bachelor's degree in Design and Applied Arts?
- The College Scorecard lists 602 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Design and Applied Arts.
- How much do Design and Applied Arts graduates earn?
- Across institutions, the median of graduates' median earnings is $39,430 one year after graduation (295 institutions reporting) and $57,432 five years after graduation (260 institutions reporting). These figures cover graduates who received federal aid and are working and not enrolled in school. Branch campuses share their institution's figures, so each institution counts once.
- Where do Design and Applied Arts graduates earn the most five years after graduation?
- By reported median earnings five years after graduation: Carnegie Mellon University ($131,766), Lawrence Technological University ($104,334), University of Southern California ($98,665), Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus ($97,685), and University of California-Irvine ($96,310).
- How much student debt do Design and Applied Arts graduates have?
- The median institution's Design and Applied Arts graduates leave with $25,042 in federal student loans (255 institutions reporting). Parent PLUS and private loans are not included.
- Which colleges award the most Design and Applied Arts degrees?
- By bachelor's degrees awarded in the most recent year: Southern New Hampshire University (803), Savannah College of Art and Design (643), Fashion Institute of Technology (567), The New School (472), and Pratt Institute-Main (373).
Related majors in visual and performing arts
How these numbers work
Figures cover bachelor's degree programs in Design and Applied Arts (CIP code 50.04), as reported in the College Scorecard. Earnings are medians for graduates who received federal aid, measured one and five years after they finished, among those working and not enrolled in school; the one-year and five-year figures describe different graduating classes. Debt is the median federal loan balance at graduation. The Scorecard withholds figures for programs with few graduates, so many smaller programs show n/a. Summary figures are medians across institutions: the Scorecard reports program earnings and debt for a whole institution, so branch campuses share one figure and count once. All figures are from the Scorecard's most recent field-of-study release. More on the data.