Capital University Public Relations and Advertising (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication
- Private nonprofit university
- Columbus, OH
- About 9 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Capital University public relations and advertising graduates earn more than graduates of most public relations and advertising programs nationally, $45,235 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $27,000 in federal loans, more than at 82% of public relations and advertising programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying public relations and advertising degrees in Ohio.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Ohio and national columns are the medians across all public relations and advertising bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Capital University graduates earn less than the national figure and about $6,838 less than the Ohio median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio public relations and advertising program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Ohio 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 7% 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 7.6% 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
85% of graduates (17 of 20) were working in Ohio one year after graduating. Prices in the Columbus area are about 5% below the national average, so a $45,235 salary here buys what about $47,382 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 public relations and advertising, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Training and Development Specialists
$64,780Median pay in Ohio. 17,690 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 11% from 2025 to 2035, with about 46,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Public Relations Specialists
$64,840Median pay in Ohio. 6,670 people work in this job in Ohio. 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.
Human Resources Managers
$130,480Median pay in Ohio. 8,040 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Fundraisers
$64,080Median pay in Ohio. 3,460 people work in this job in Ohio. 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.
About Capital University
Public Relations and Advertising ranks 7th of 19 bachelor's programs at Capital University by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($70,365), Computer Science ($62,806), and Accounting ($60,405).
Other public relations and advertising bachelor's programs near Columbus
Common questions
The median graduate earns $45,235 one year after graduating and $48,600 five years after. The median across public relations and advertising bachelor's programs in Ohio is $41,132.
The median federal loan balance is $27,000, which ranks 8th lowest of 11 public relations and advertising bachelor's programs in Ohio. That works out to about $286 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 60% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 62%.
Most do. 85% (17 of 20) were working in Ohio 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 Ohio 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 public relations and advertising 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