Washburn University Marketing (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Marketing
- Public university
- Topeka, KS
- About 26 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Washburn University marketing graduates earn about what marketing graduates earn nationally, $47,963 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $27,000 in federal loans, more than at 79% of marketing programs in the country. Two other Kansas programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Kansas and national columns are the medians across all marketing bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Washburn University graduates earn less than the national figure and about the same as the Kansas median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Kansas marketing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Kansas 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 29% 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 slightly more in their first year than other graduates. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $286 a month, or 7.2% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
86% of graduates (32 of 37) were working in Kansas one year after graduating. Prices in the Topeka area are about 11% below the national average, so a $47,963 salary here buys what about $54,000 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 marketing, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
$70,430Median pay in Kansas. 8,090 people work in this job in Kansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 82,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Sales Managers
$159,990Median pay in Kansas. 6,820 people work in this job in Kansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Marketing Managers
$154,510Median pay in Kansas. 1,570 people work in this job in Kansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 34,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Web and Digital Interface Designers
$70,620Median pay in Kansas. 200 people work in this job in Kansas. 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.
About Washburn University
Marketing ranks 8th of 17 bachelor's programs at Washburn University by first-year earnings. The top three are Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($71,318), Nursing ($71,210), and Computer and Information Science ($64,361).
Other marketing bachelor's programs near Topeka
Common questions
The median graduate earns $47,963 one year after graduating and $61,715 five years after. The median across marketing bachelor's programs in Kansas is $45,010.
The median federal loan balance is $27,000, which ranks 6th lowest of 8 marketing bachelor's programs in Kansas. That works out to about $286 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 56% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 53%. Compare the cost with other Kansas programs before deciding.
Most do. 86% (32 of 37) were working in Kansas 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 Kansas 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 marketing 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