Western Illinois University Communications (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Communication and Media Studies
- Public university
- Macomb, IL
- About 37 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Western Illinois University communications graduates earn about what communications graduates earn nationally, $34,142 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $30,000 in federal loans, more than at 95% of communications programs in the country. Several Illinois programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all communications bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Western Illinois University graduates earn about the national figure and about the same as the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois communications program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois 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 50% 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 $2,660 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 $318 a month, or 11.2% 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, 19 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $34,292.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
80% of graduates (65 of 81) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Illinois outside metro areas are about 13% below the national average, so a $34,142 salary here buys what about $39,055 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
$76,380Median pay in Illinois. 6,200 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$66,440Median pay in Illinois. 4,470 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$76,060Median pay in Illinois. 4,560 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$131,990Median pay in Illinois. 2,770 people work in this job in Illinois. 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 Western Illinois University
Communications ranks 20th of 30 bachelor's programs at Western Illinois University by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($74,490), Construction Management ($70,789), and Engineering ($66,112).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $34,142 one year after graduating and $51,354 five years after. The median across communications bachelor's programs in Illinois is $35,991.
The median federal loan balance is $30,000, which ranks 23rd lowest of 24 communications bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $318 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 88% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 69%. Compare the cost with other Illinois programs before deciding.
Most do. 80% (65 of 81) were working in Illinois 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 Illinois 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