Which Emerson College major has the lowest debt?

Communications graduates leave with a median of $23,953 in federal loans, the lowest among 8 Emerson College bachelor's programs that report debt.

How much does Emerson College cost?

Tuition and fees are $57,056 a year for all students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $49,180 a year.

How many Emerson College programs report graduate pay?

8 bachelor's programs at Emerson College report first-year pay, and all of them also report federal debt.

Emerson College Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Private nonprofit college
Boston, MA
3,870 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

8 Emerson College bachelor's programs report what graduates earn. Communications pays the most in the first year ($44,108), and Theatre the least ($19,560). The median program pays $36,312.

Tuition and fees$57,056Per year, for all students

Average net price after aid$49,180Per year

Graduation rate77%Within 6 years

Admission rate51%Of applicants

All 8 bachelor's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in Massachusetts" compares first-year pay with the same field's bachelor's programs across Massachusetts. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in Massachusetts
1	CommunicationsAbout 24 graduates a year	$44,108	$62,654	$23,953	4th of 20
2	MarketingAbout 41 graduates a year	$41,651	$72,291	$24,250	10th of 13
3	JournalismAbout 68 graduates a year	$39,703	$61,538	$24,580	3rd of 5
4	Other Interdisciplinary StudiesAbout 19 graduates a year	$39,183	Not reported	$25,987	6th of 8
5	Writing and RhetoricAbout 92 graduates a year	$33,441	$49,817	$24,250	1st of 1
6	Public Relations and AdvertisingAbout 44 graduates a year	$28,606	$63,073	$24,625	4th of 4
7	Film and PhotographyAbout 298 graduates a year	$27,032	$52,518	$24,250	5th of 6
8	TheatreAbout 102 graduates a year	$19,560	$33,947	$25,000	4th of 4

Program names link to the program's own page, and Massachusetts ranks link to the full ranking for the field. A program gets its own page when it reports both pay and debt and at least five Massachusetts programs in the field do too.

One more bachelor's program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Communications$44,108
Marketing$41,651
Journalism$39,703
Other Interdisciplinary Studies$39,183
Writing and Rhetoric$33,441

Lowest median debt

Communications$23,953
Marketing$24,250
Writing and Rhetoric$24,250
Film and Photography$24,250
Journalism$24,580

Largest programs

Film and PhotographyAbout 298 graduates a year
TheatreAbout 102 graduates a year
Writing and RhetoricAbout 92 graduates a year
JournalismAbout 68 graduates a year
Public Relations and AdvertisingAbout 44 graduates a year

Common questions

Communications graduates earn a median of $44,108 in their first year, the most of 8 Emerson College bachelor's programs that report pay.

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Tuition, net price, graduation rate, and admission rate are for the whole school, not one program.
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 Massachusetts rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
NCES, IPEDS tuition and fees, 2023-24, for in-district tuition labels