Meredith College Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Design and Applied Arts
- Private nonprofit college
- Raleigh, NC
- About 35 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Meredith College design and applied arts graduates earn about what design and applied arts graduates earn nationally, $36,357 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $25,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $27,000. Several North Carolina programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The North Carolina and national columns are the medians across all design and applied arts bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Meredith College graduates earn less than the national figure and about $4,095 less than the North Carolina median. Several North Carolina programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every North Carolina design and applied arts program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the North Carolina 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 27% 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 $12,949 less in their first year than other graduates. 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 $265 a month, or 8.7% 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
89% of graduates (33 of 37) were working in North Carolina one year after graduating. Prices in the Raleigh area are about 2% below the national average, so a $36,357 salary here buys what about $37,040 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
$58,450Median pay in North Carolina. 5,660 people work in this job in North Carolina. 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
$97,990Median pay in North Carolina. 3,400 people work in this job in North Carolina. 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
$61,400Median pay in North Carolina. 2,610 people work in this job in North Carolina. 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
$90,000Median pay in North Carolina. 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 Meredith College
Design and Applied Arts ranks 8th of 11 bachelor's programs at Meredith College by first-year earnings. The top three are Human Resources ($50,635), Business Administration ($48,955), and Marketing ($45,883).
Other design and applied arts bachelor's programs near Raleigh
Common questions
The median graduate earns $36,357 one year after graduating and $46,268 five years after. The median across design and applied arts bachelor's programs in North Carolina is $34,722.
The median federal loan balance is $25,000, which ranks 4th lowest of 9 design and applied arts bachelor's programs in North Carolina. That works out to about $265 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 69% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 77%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several North Carolina programs report higher pay.
Most do. 89% (33 of 37) were working in North Carolina 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 North Carolina 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