Full Sail University Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Design and Applied Arts
- Private for-profit university
- Winter Park, FL
- About 374 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Full Sail University design and applied arts graduates earn less than graduates of most design and applied arts programs nationally, $25,479 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $40,218 in federal loans, more than at 96% of design and applied arts programs in the country. Several Florida programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Florida and national columns are the medians across all design and applied arts bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Full Sail University graduates earn less than the national figure and about $4,013 less than the Florida median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Florida design and applied arts program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Florida 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 75% 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 slightly more in their first year than other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $42,338 against $28,163.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $426 a month, or 20.1% 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, 122 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $24,885.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
31% of graduates (96 of 306) were working in Florida one year after graduating. Prices in the Orlando area are about 1% above the national average, so a $25,479 salary here buys what about $25,123 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 design and applied arts, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Graphic Designers
$61,660Median pay in Florida. 12,660 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Web and Digital Interface Designers
$77,730Median pay in Florida. 4,620 people work in this job in Florida. 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.
Interior Designers
$60,860Median pay in Florida. 7,410 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Art Directors
$99,660Median pay in Florida. 2,520 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
About Full Sail University
Design and Applied Arts ranks 13th of 20 bachelor's programs at Full Sail University by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Programming ($67,539), Computer Engineering ($61,553), and Computer Engineering Technology ($58,321).
Other design and applied arts bachelor's programs near Winter Park
Common questions
The median graduate earns $25,479 one year after graduating and $44,692 five years after. The median across design and applied arts bachelor's programs in Florida is $36,587.
The median federal loan balance is $40,218, which ranks 8th lowest of 8 design and applied arts bachelor's programs in Florida. That works out to about $426 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 158% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 77%. Compare the cost with other Florida programs before deciding.
Many leave. 31% (96 of 306) were working in Florida 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 Florida 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 design and applied arts 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