The New School Design and Applied Arts (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Design and Applied Arts
- Private nonprofit school
- New York, NY
- About 105 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
The New School design and applied arts graduates earn more than graduates of most design and applied arts programs nationally, $44,640 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $21,211 in federal loans, more than at 82% of design and applied arts programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying design and applied arts degrees in New York.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The New York and national columns are the medians across all design and applied arts associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, The New School graduates earn more than the national figure and about $20,911 more than the New York median.
Debt and first-year pay at every New York design and applied arts program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the New York 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 26% 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 $22,744 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 $225 a month, or 6.0% 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, 19 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $47,509.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
68% of graduates (54 of 79) were working in New York one year after graduating. Prices in the New York area are about 13% above the national average, so a $44,640 salary here buys what about $39,658 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
$77,340Median pay in New York. 14,530 people work in this job in New York. 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
$120,990Median pay in New York. 16,560 people work in this job in New York. 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
$75,580Median pay in New York. 5,340 people work in this job in New York. 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
$137,320Median pay in New York. 8,720 people work in this job in New York. 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 The New School
Design and Applied Arts ranks 1st of 2 associate's programs at The New School by first-year earnings. The other is Specialized Sales and Merchandising ($41,562).
Other design and applied arts associate's programs near New York
Common questions
The median graduate earns $44,640 one year after graduating and $56,224 five years after. The median across design and applied arts associate's programs in New York is $20,079.
The median federal loan balance is $21,211, which ranks 7th lowest of 7 design and applied arts associate's programs in New York. That works out to about $225 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 48% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 54%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less.
Most do. 68% (54 of 79) were working in New York 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 New York 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