George Mason Marketing (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Marketing
- Public university
- Fairfax, VA
- About 58 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
George Mason marketing graduates earn about what marketing graduates earn nationally, $49,223 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $21,233 in federal loans, less than at 75% of marketing programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying marketing degrees in Virginia.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Virginia and national columns are the medians across all marketing bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, George Mason graduates earn more than the national figure and about $5,033 more than the Virginia median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Virginia marketing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Virginia 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 55% 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 about the same in their first year as other graduates. They also borrowed less. 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 $225 a month, or 5.5% 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.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
86% of graduates (103 of 120) were working in Virginia one year after graduating. Prices in the Washington area are about 9% above the national average, so a $49,223 salary here buys what about $45,207 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
$76,980Median pay in Virginia. 25,610 people work in this job in Virginia. 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
$191,130Median pay in Virginia. 9,670 people work in this job in Virginia. 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
$187,820Median pay in Virginia. 6,890 people work in this job in Virginia. 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
$77,140Median pay in Virginia. 1,990 people work in this job in Virginia. 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 George Mason
Marketing ranks 21st of 51 bachelor's programs at George Mason by first-year earnings. The top three are Homeland Security ($90,956), Computer Engineering ($87,466), and Systems Engineering ($84,942).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $49,223 one year after graduating and $76,137 five years after. The median across marketing bachelor's programs in Virginia is $43,395.
The median federal loan balance is $21,233, which ranks 2nd lowest of 7 marketing bachelor's programs in Virginia. That works out to about $225 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 43% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 53%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less.
Most do. 86% (103 of 120) were working in Virginia 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 Virginia 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