VCU Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Design and Applied Arts
- Public university
- Richmond, VA
- About 322 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
VCU design and applied arts graduates earn less than graduates of most design and applied arts programs nationally, $25,872 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $25,937 in federal loans, close to the national median of $27,000. Several Virginia programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Virginia and national columns are the medians across all design and applied arts bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, VCU graduates earn about the national figure and about the same as the Virginia median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Virginia design and applied arts 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 92% 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 $2,626 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 $275 a month, or 12.8% 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, 83 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $27,115.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
68% of graduates (241 of 353) were working in Virginia one year after graduating. Prices in the Richmond area are about 2% below the national average, so a $25,872 salary here buys what about $26,438 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
$72,310Median pay in Virginia. 4,740 people work in this job in Virginia. 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
$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.
Interior Designers
$62,560Median pay in Virginia. 1,550 people work in this job in Virginia. 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
$101,150Median pay in Virginia. 670 people work in this job in Virginia. 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 VCU
Design and Applied Arts ranks 41st of 47 bachelor's programs at VCU by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer and Information Science ($84,338), Computer Engineering ($82,964), and Chemical Engineering ($79,721).
Other design and applied arts bachelor's programs near Richmond
Common questions
The median graduate earns $25,872 one year after graduating and $49,801 five years after. The median across design and applied arts bachelor's programs in Virginia is $33,638.
The median federal loan balance is $25,937, which ranks 3rd lowest of 6 design and applied arts bachelor's programs in Virginia. That works out to about $275 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 100% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 77%. Compare the cost with other Virginia programs before deciding.
Most do. 68% (241 of 353) 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 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