Bachelor's degree · Communication and journalism · CIP 09.04
Journalism: earnings and debt by college
The College Scorecard lists 324 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Journalism, together awarding 9,354 of these degrees in the most recent year. At the median institution, graduates who received federal aid earn $41,093 one year after finishing and $57,494 five years after finishing (two separate graduating classes). The median institution's graduates leave with $20,625 in federal student loans.
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Compare Journalism 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 131 of 311; programs missing either value are left out (the Scorecard withholds figures for small programs).
Colleges with a bachelor's in Journalism
| University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia · Public | MO | 438 | $49,014 | $73,001 | $18,716 |
| University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman · Public | OK | 231 | $45,681 | $57,454 | $20,375 |
| University of North Texas Denton · Public | TX | 221 | $44,594 | $58,449 | $18,750 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison · Public | WI | 190 | $52,252 | $83,397 | $19,500 |
| Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park · Public | PA | 183 | $44,298 | $66,227 | $25,000 |
| University of Kansas Lawrence · Public | KS | 170 | $46,649 | $73,345 | $19,500 |
| University of Georgia Athens · Public | GA | 165 | $45,140 | $66,883 | $22,488 |
| Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe · Public | AZ | 156 | $47,643 | $65,315 | $19,059 |
| Syracuse University Syracuse · Private nonprofit | NY | 152 | $50,132 | $73,318 | $23,250 |
| West Virginia University Morgantown · Public | WV | 148 | $41,407 | $65,148 | $22,950 |
| The University of Texas at Austin Austin · Public | TX | 146 | $41,557 | $62,016 | $22,000 |
| University of Florida Gainesville · Public | FL | 135 | $45,204 | $66,245 | $14,000 |
| University of Oregon Eugene · Public | OR | 129 | $35,989 | $57,556 | $19,500 |
| The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville · Public | TN | 125 | $42,605 | $56,391 | $18,625 |
| Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins · Public | CO | 121 | $43,081 | $59,860 | $19,500 |
| San Diego State University San Diego · Public | CA | 121 | $43,326 | $69,076 | $13,750 |
| University of Maryland-College Park College Park · Public | MD | 112 | $53,114 | $75,029 | $16,750 |
| Ohio University-Main Campus Athens · Public | OH | 111 | $44,037 | $63,023 | $21,000 |
| Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington · Public | IN | 105 | $46,204 | $72,340 | $18,500 |
| Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick · Public | NJ | 103 | $41,980 | $67,143 | $20,423 |
| Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro · Public | TN | 98 | $40,785 | n/a | $20,000 |
| California State University-Northridge Northridge · Public | CA | 95 | $41,557 | $60,164 | $15,250 |
| Boston University Boston · Private nonprofit | MA | 90 | $46,107 | $70,506 | $17,000 |
| Michigan State University East Lansing · Public | MI | 90 | $41,025 | $62,328 | $19,500 |
| The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa · Public | AL | 90 | $43,149 | $57,003 | $24,576 |
| University of Colorado Boulder Boulder · Public | CO | 89 | $46,262 | $70,676 | $19,500 |
| University of Iowa Iowa City · Public | IA | 88 | $45,377 | $64,108 | $21,500 |
| University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst · Public | MA | 88 | $35,930 | $58,933 | $23,250 |
| University of Southern California Los Angeles · Private nonprofit | CA | 88 | $51,919 | $82,049 | $15,500 |
| Georgia State University Atlanta · Public | GA | 87 | $38,581 | $57,707 | $27,000 |
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo · Public | CA | 86 | $38,051 | $82,412 | $15,500 |
| California State University-Fresno Fresno · Public | CA | 79 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| University of Nevada-Reno Reno · Public | NV | 77 | $43,830 | $58,207 | $15,186 |
| California State University-Long Beach Long Beach · Public | CA | 75 | $36,358 | $59,982 | $15,000 |
| University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln · Public | NE | 72 | $41,162 | $56,205 | $23,329 |
| Utah State University Logan · Public | UT | 70 | $39,944 | $63,383 | $14,750 |
| University of West Georgia Carrollton · Public | GA | 69 | $37,213 | $49,768 | $24,000 |
| Emerson College Boston · Private nonprofit | MA | 67 | $43,207 | $68,464 | $23,250 |
| Temple University Philadelphia · Public | PA | 66 | $42,208 | $56,897 | $27,000 |
| Georgia College & State University Milledgeville · Public | GA | 65 | $44,167 | $62,736 | $22,985 |
| Baylor University Waco · Private nonprofit | TX | 63 | $49,805 | $66,093 | $19,374 |
| University of Arizona Tucson · Public | AZ | 63 | $41,424 | $63,031 | $15,500 |
| University of Arkansas Fayetteville · Public | AR | 61 | $46,526 | $66,940 | $21,500 |
| American University Washington · Private nonprofit | DC | 60 | $50,406 | $74,645 | $20,500 |
| Washington State University Pullman · Public | WA | 58 | $40,930 | $46,579 | $20,357 |
| University of Central Florida Orlando · Public | FL | 55 | $42,129 | n/a | $21,645 |
| University of South Carolina-Columbia Columbia · Public | SC | 55 | $39,037 | $56,931 | $21,500 |
| Brigham Young University Provo · Private nonprofit | UT | 54 | $49,237 | $58,274 | $14,250 |
| Kansas State University Manhattan · Public | KS | 54 | $44,562 | $56,988 | $22,500 |
| Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights · Public | KY | 54 | $39,539 | $47,488 | $25,000 |
Quick facts: Journalism
- How many colleges offer a bachelor's degree in Journalism?
- The College Scorecard lists 324 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Journalism.
- How much do Journalism graduates earn?
- Across institutions, the median of graduates' median earnings is $41,093 one year after graduation (156 institutions reporting) and $57,494 five years after graduation (174 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 Journalism graduates earn the most five years after graduation?
- By reported median earnings five years after graduation: Northwestern University ($88,725), George Washington University ($84,878), University of Wisconsin-Madison ($83,397), California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo ($82,412), and University of Southern California ($82,049).
- How much student debt do Journalism graduates have?
- The median institution's Journalism graduates leave with $20,625 in federal student loans (141 institutions reporting). Parent PLUS and private loans are not included.
- Which colleges award the most Journalism degrees?
- By bachelor's degrees awarded in the most recent year: University of Missouri-Columbia (438), University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus (231), University of North Texas (221), University of Wisconsin-Madison (190), and Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus (183).
Related majors in communication and journalism
How these numbers work
Figures cover bachelor's degree programs in Journalism (CIP code 09.04), 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.