Dutchess Community College Communications (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Communication and Media Studies
- Public college
- Poughkeepsie, NY
- About 30 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Dutchess Community College communications graduates earn less than graduates of most communications programs nationally, $17,585 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $10,998 in federal loans, close to the national median of $11,889. Several New York programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The New York and national columns are the medians across all communications associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Dutchess Community College graduates earn less than the national figure and about the same as the New York median.
Debt and first-year pay at every New York communications program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the New York 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 106% 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 $117 a month, or 8.0% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the Kiryas Joel area are about 9% above the national average, so a $17,585 salary here buys what about $16,071 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
$81,250Median pay in New York. 28,250 people work in this job in New York. 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
$80,540Median pay in New York. 11,600 people work in this job in New York. 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
$101,480Median pay in New York. 16,800 people work in this job in New York. 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
$180,880Median pay in New York. 7,710 people work in this job in New York. 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 Dutchess Community College
Communications ranks 6th of 6 associate's programs at Dutchess Community College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($80,603), Criminal Justice ($26,891), and Business Administration ($25,712).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $17,585 one year after graduating and $36,269 five years after. The median across communications associate's programs in New York is $26,780.
The median federal loan balance is $10,998, which ranks 4th lowest of 6 communications associate's programs in New York. That works out to about $117 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 63% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 39%. Compare the cost with other New York programs before deciding.
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 New York 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