Which California writing and rhetoric program has the lowest debt?

Cal State LA reports the lowest median federal debt, $13,500, with first-year pay of $28,725.

How much do writing and rhetoric graduates earn in California?

The median across 10 California writing and rhetoric bachelor's programs is $27,681 in the first year after graduating and $48,115 five years after.

How many writing and rhetoric bachelor's programs are in California?

10 California programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 9 of them also report federal debt.

Writing and Rhetoric (Bachelor's) Programs in California, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

10 programs report first-year pay
9 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California writing and rhetoric bachelor's program pays its graduates $27,681 in their first year, $750 less than the national median. UC Berkeley reports the highest first-year pay ($44,553), and Cal State LA the lowest median debt ($13,500).

Median first-year pay$27,681National $28,430

Median pay after 5 years$48,115National $47,988

Median federal debt$16,500National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings70%National 82%

All 10 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	UC BerkeleyBerkeley · public	$44,553	$69,742	$14,037	32%
2	Cal Poly HumboldtArcata · public	$34,309	$52,626	$16,500	48%
3	Pepperdine UniversityMalibu · private nonprofit	$33,228	Not reported	$24,027	72%
4	San Francisco StateSan Francisco · public	$32,431	$43,400	$18,500	57%
5	Cal State LALos Angeles · public	$28,725	$54,514	$13,500	47%
6	USCLos Angeles · private nonprofit	$26,636	$66,177	$19,500	73%
7	Chapman UniversityOrange · private nonprofit	$23,939	$60,749	Not reported	Not reported
8	Cal State Long BeachLong Beach · public	$21,854	$43,603	$15,394	70%
9	UC RiversideRiverside · public	$21,765	$38,017	$20,000	92%
10	Cal State San BernardinoSan Bernardino · public	$20,726	$32,348	$16,210	78%

Chapman University reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every California writing and rhetoric program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 9 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to writing and rhetoric, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Editors

$98,030

Median pay in California. 14,830 people work in this job in California. 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.

Bottom 10%: $52,510Top 10%: $173,590

Writers and Authors

$86,480

Median pay in California. 8,390 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 11,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $56,730Top 10%: $193,080

Technical Writers

$104,000

Median pay in California. 5,280 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $69,630Top 10%: $175,510

Proofreaders and Copy Markers

$57,490

Median pay in California. 300 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $34,320Top 10%: $81,500

Common questions

UC Berkeley in Berkeley reports the highest median first-year pay, $44,553. Its median federal debt is $14,037.

Writing and Rhetoric (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked110 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 California rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the writing and rhetoric bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024