Virginia Tech Communications (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Communication and Media Studies
- Public university
- Blacksburg, VA
- About 225 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Virginia Tech communications graduates earn more than graduates of most communications programs nationally, $44,309 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $20,613 in federal loans, less than at 80% of communications programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying communications degrees in Virginia.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Virginia and national columns are the medians across all communications bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Virginia Tech graduates earn more than the national figure and about $10,823 more than the Virginia median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Virginia communications 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 47% 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 $4,545 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 $219 a month, or 5.9% 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, 52 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $41,162.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
69% of graduates (122 of 178) were working in Virginia one year after graduating. Prices in the Blacksburg area are about 7% below the national average, so a $44,309 salary here buys what about $47,793 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 communications, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Public Relations Specialists
$80,380Median pay in Virginia. 9,990 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 23,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Fundraisers
$72,610Median pay in Virginia. 4,010 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Editors
$80,590Median pay in Virginia. 2,720 people work in this job in Virginia. 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.
Public Relations Managers
$176,340Median pay in Virginia. 2,610 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
About Virginia Tech
Communications ranks 36th of 56 bachelor's programs at Virginia Tech by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer and Information Science ($96,432), Computer Engineering ($86,636), and Electrical Engineering ($83,364).
Other communications bachelor's programs near Blacksburg
Common questions
The median graduate earns $44,309 one year after graduating and $65,239 five years after. The median across communications bachelor's programs in Virginia is $36,141.
The median federal loan balance is $20,613, which ranks the lowest of 14 communications bachelor's programs in Virginia. That works out to about $219 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 47% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 69%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less.
Most do. 69% (122 of 178) 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 communications 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