Appalachian State Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Design and Applied Arts
- Public university
- Boone, NC
- About 131 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Appalachian State design and applied arts graduates earn about what design and applied arts graduates earn nationally, $34,722 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $21,500 in federal loans, less than at 84% of design and applied arts programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying design and applied arts degrees in North Carolina.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The North Carolina and national columns are the medians across all design and applied arts bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Appalachian State graduates earn more than the national figure and about $4,608 more than the North Carolina median.
Debt and first-year pay at every North Carolina design and applied arts program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the North Carolina 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 58% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned about the same in their first year as other graduates. They also borrowed less. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $228 a month, or 7.9% 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. Separately, 74 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $21,042.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
84% of graduates (144 of 172) were working in North Carolina one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of North Carolina outside metro areas are about 12% below the national average, so a $34,722 salary here buys what about $39,274 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 design and applied arts, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Graphic Designers
$58,450Median pay in North Carolina. 5,660 people work in this job in North Carolina. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Web and Digital Interface Designers
$97,990Median pay in North Carolina. 3,400 people work in this job in North Carolina. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 8,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Interior Designers
$61,400Median pay in North Carolina. 2,610 people work in this job in North Carolina. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Art Directors
$90,000Median pay in North Carolina. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
About Appalachian State
Design and Applied Arts ranks 26th of 52 bachelor's programs at Appalachian State by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($69,420), Computer Science ($68,675), and Construction Management ($59,809).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $34,722 one year after graduating and $54,970 five years after. The median across design and applied arts bachelor's programs in North Carolina is $34,722.
The median federal loan balance is $21,500, which ranks 2nd lowest of 9 design and applied arts bachelor's programs in North Carolina. That works out to about $228 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 62% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 77%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several North Carolina programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 84% (144 of 172) were working in North Carolina 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 North Carolina 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 design and applied arts 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