Purdue Fort Wayne Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Design and Applied Arts
- Public university
- Fort Wayne, IN
- About 10 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Purdue Fort Wayne design and applied arts graduates earn less than graduates of most design and applied arts programs nationally, $27,517 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $27,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $27,000. Several Indiana programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Indiana and national columns are the medians across all design and applied arts bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Debt and first-year pay at every Indiana design and applied arts program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Indiana medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $286 a month, or 12.5% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
88% of graduates (22 of 25) were working in Indiana one year after graduating. Prices in the Fort Wayne area are about 7% below the national average, so a $27,517 salary here buys what about $29,725 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
$55,480Median pay in Indiana. 3,450 people work in this job in Indiana. 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
$63,430Median pay in Indiana. 1,160 people work in this job in Indiana. 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
$62,580Median pay in Indiana. 1,020 people work in this job in Indiana. 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
$105,690Median pay in Indiana. 350 people work in this job in Indiana. 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 Purdue Fort Wayne
Design and Applied Arts ranks 24th of 25 bachelor's programs at Purdue Fort Wayne by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($70,046), Electrical Engineering ($67,236), and Mechanical Engineering Technology ($65,385).
Other design and applied arts bachelor's programs near Fort Wayne
Common questions
The median graduate earns $27,517 one year after graduating. The median across design and applied arts bachelor's programs in Indiana is $35,439.
The median federal loan balance is $27,000, which ranks 6th lowest of 7 design and applied arts bachelor's programs in Indiana. That works out to about $286 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 98% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 77%. Compare the cost with other Indiana programs before deciding.
Most do. 88% (22 of 25) were working in Indiana 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 Indiana 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