Northeastern University Journalism (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Journalism
- Private nonprofit university
- Boston, MA
- About 42 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northeastern University journalism graduates earn more than graduates of most journalism programs nationally, $51,855 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $24,313 in federal loans, close to the national median of $24,500. It is one of the higher-paying journalism degrees in Massachusetts.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Massachusetts and national columns are the medians across all journalism bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Northeastern University graduates earn more than the national figure and about the same as the Massachusetts median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Massachusetts journalism program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Massachusetts 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 21% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $258 a month, or 6.0% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the Boston area are about 8% above the national average, so a $51,855 salary here buys what about $47,896 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 journalism, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Editors
$83,170Median pay in Massachusetts. 3,100 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Photographers
$57,990Median pay in Massachusetts. 830 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Writers and Authors
$85,260Median pay in Massachusetts. 1,350 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 11,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
$62,200Median pay nationwide. 810 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Northeastern University
Journalism ranks 18th of 32 bachelor's programs at Northeastern University by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer and Information Science ($115,587), Computer Engineering ($99,499), and Electrical Engineering ($92,222).
Other journalism bachelor's programs near Boston
Common questions
The median graduate earns $51,855 one year after graduating and $62,784 five years after. The median across journalism bachelor's programs in Massachusetts is $39,703.
The median federal loan balance is $24,313, which ranks the lowest of 5 journalism bachelor's programs in Massachusetts. That works out to about $258 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 47% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 67%.
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 Massachusetts 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 journalism 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