Albion College Communications (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Communication and Media Studies
- Private nonprofit college
- Albion, MI
- About 16 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Albion College communications graduates earn more than graduates of most communications programs nationally, $39,209 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $27,000 in federal loans, more than at 75% of communications programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying communications degrees in Michigan.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Michigan and national columns are the medians across all communications bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Albion College graduates earn more than the national figure and about $10,522 more than the Michigan median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Michigan communications program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Michigan medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 50% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $286 a month, or 8.8% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
57% of graduates (17 of 30) were working in Michigan one year after graduating. Prices in the Battle Creek area are about 9% below the national average, so a $39,209 salary here buys what about $43,305 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to communications, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Public Relations Specialists
$65,300Median pay in Michigan. 7,510 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 23,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Fundraisers
$66,130Median pay in Michigan. 3,170 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Editors
$63,090Median pay in Michigan. 1,690 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Public Relations Managers
$117,900Median pay in Michigan. 1,720 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
About Albion College
Communications ranks 5th of 9 bachelor's programs at Albion College by first-year earnings. The top three are Accounting ($62,266), Finance ($59,926), and Economics ($48,756).
Other communications bachelor's programs near Albion
Common questions
The median graduate earns $39,209 one year after graduating and $58,781 five years after. The median across communications bachelor's programs in Michigan is $36,017.
The median federal loan balance is $27,000, which ranks 10th lowest of 18 communications bachelor's programs in Michigan. That works out to about $286 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 69% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 69%.
Most do. 57% (17 of 30) were working in Michigan one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Michigan comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the communications program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024