Ball State Communications (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Communication and Media Studies
- Public university
- Muncie, IN
- About 42 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Ball State communications graduates earn about what communications graduates earn nationally, $33,815 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $21,550 in federal loans, less than at 75% of communications programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying communications degrees in Indiana.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Indiana and national columns are the medians across all communications bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Ball State graduates earn less than the national figure and about the same as the Indiana median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Indiana communications program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Indiana 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 48% 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 $8,762 less in their first year than other graduates. They also borrowed more. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $228 a month, or 8.1% 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, 19 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $31,000.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
75% of graduates (62 of 83) were working in Indiana one year after graduating. Prices in the Muncie area are about 12% below the national average, so a $33,815 salary here buys what about $38,362 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
$64,900Median pay in Indiana. 3,750 people work in this job in Indiana. 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
$66,250Median pay in Indiana. 2,080 people work in this job in Indiana. 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
$56,440Median pay in Indiana. 830 people work in this job in Indiana. 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
$114,960Median pay in Indiana. 600 people work in this job in Indiana. 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 Ball State
Communications ranks 41st of 53 bachelor's programs at Ball State by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($73,719), Construction Management ($69,076), and Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($67,833).
Other communications bachelor's programs near Muncie
Common questions
The median graduate earns $33,815 one year after graduating and $49,909 five years after. The median across communications bachelor's programs in Indiana is $34,213.
The median federal loan balance is $21,550, which ranks 6th lowest of 16 communications bachelor's programs in Indiana. That works out to about $228 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 64% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 69%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Indiana programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 75% (62 of 83) were working in Indiana 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 Indiana 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