Eastern Connecticut State Communications (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Communication and Media Studies
- Public university
- Willimantic, CT
- About 58 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Eastern Connecticut State communications graduates earn about what communications graduates earn nationally, $32,721 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $26,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,000. Several Connecticut programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Connecticut and national columns are the medians across all communications bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Eastern Connecticut State graduates earn less than the national figure and about $2,394 less than the Connecticut median. Several Connecticut programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Connecticut communications program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Connecticut 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 53% 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 more in their first year than other graduates. 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 $276 a month, or 10.1% 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, 34 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $27,647.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
86% of graduates (114 of 132) were working in Connecticut one year after graduating. Prices in the Norwich area are about the same as the national average.
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
$84,990Median pay in Connecticut. 1,910 people work in this job in Connecticut. 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
$77,730Median pay in Connecticut. 1,350 people work in this job in Connecticut. 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
$85,950Median pay in Connecticut. 1,050 people work in this job in Connecticut. 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
$154,210Median pay in Connecticut. 890 people work in this job in Connecticut. 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 Eastern Connecticut State
Communications ranks 14th of 19 bachelor's programs at Eastern Connecticut State by first-year earnings. The top three are Subject-Area Teacher Education ($47,736), Teacher Education ($47,445), and Mathematics ($45,858).
Other communications bachelor's programs near Willimantic
Common questions
The median graduate earns $32,721 one year after graduating and $49,964 five years after. The median across communications bachelor's programs in Connecticut is $30,399.
The median federal loan balance is $26,000, which ranks 5th lowest of 11 communications bachelor's programs in Connecticut. That works out to about $276 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 79% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 69%. Compare the cost with other Connecticut programs before deciding.
Most do. 86% (114 of 132) were working in Connecticut 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 Connecticut 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