Eastern Kentucky University Marketing (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Marketing
- Public university
- Richmond, KY
- About 34 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Eastern Kentucky University marketing graduates earn about what marketing graduates earn nationally, $40,968 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $25,189 in federal loans, close to the national median of $24,250. Several Kentucky programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Kentucky and national columns are the medians across all marketing bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Eastern Kentucky University graduates earn less than the national figure and about $5,045 less than the Kentucky median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Kentucky marketing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Kentucky 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 31% 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 $4,510 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 $267 a month, or 7.8% 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, 22 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $18,879.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
73% of graduates (49 of 67) were working in Kentucky one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Kentucky outside metro areas are about 15% below the national average, so a $40,968 salary here buys what about $48,055 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 marketing, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
$61,480Median pay in Kentucky. 6,290 people work in this job in Kentucky. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 82,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Sales Managers
$128,650Median pay in Kentucky. 6,650 people work in this job in Kentucky. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Marketing Managers
$128,930Median pay in Kentucky. 1,930 people work in this job in Kentucky. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 34,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Web and Digital Interface Designers
$77,000Median pay in Kentucky. 590 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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.
About Eastern Kentucky University
Marketing ranks 12th of 41 bachelor's programs at Eastern Kentucky University by first-year earnings. The top three are Quality Control and Safety Technology ($71,240), Construction Management ($68,726), and Nursing ($68,633).
Other marketing bachelor's programs near Richmond
Common questions
The median graduate earns $40,968 one year after graduating and $53,643 five years after. The median across marketing bachelor's programs in Kentucky is $45,042.
The median federal loan balance is $25,189, which ranks 6th lowest of 7 marketing bachelor's programs in Kentucky. That works out to about $267 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 61% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 53%. Compare the cost with other Kentucky programs before deciding.
Most do. 73% (49 of 67) were working in Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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 marketing 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