Which Georgia design and applied arts program has the lowest debt?

Kennesaw State reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,500, with first-year pay of $25,839.

How much do design and applied arts graduates earn in Georgia?

The median across 6 Georgia design and applied arts bachelor's programs is $26,331 in the first year after graduating and $43,503 five years after.

How many design and applied arts bachelor's programs are in Georgia?

6 Georgia programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 5 of them also report federal debt.

Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's) Programs in Georgia, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

6 programs report first-year pay
5 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Design and Applied Arts

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Georgia design and applied arts bachelor's program pays its graduates $26,331 in their first year, $7,205 less than the national median. Georgia Tech reports the highest first-year pay ($52,694), and Kennesaw State the lowest median debt ($20,500).

Median first-year pay$26,331National $33,536

Median pay after 5 years$43,503National $50,431

Median federal debt$26,354National $27,000

Debt-to-earnings79%National 77%

All 6 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	Georgia TechAtlanta · public	$52,694	$91,029	$26,354	50%
2	Georgia Southern UniversityStatesboro · public	$39,355	Not reported	$26,000	66%
3	University of North GeorgiaDahlonega · public	$26,823	$47,803	Not reported	Not reported
4	Kennesaw StateKennesaw · public	$25,839	Not reported	$20,500	79%
5	SCADSavannah · private nonprofit	$23,400	$43,503	$27,000	115%
6	Clark Atlanta UniversityAtlanta · private nonprofit	$20,974	$28,479	$27,427	131%

University of North Georgia reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Georgia design and applied arts program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 5 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Georgia Tech$52,694
Georgia Southern University$39,355
University of North Georgia$26,823
Kennesaw State$25,839
SCAD$23,400

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 design and applied arts, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Graphic Designers

$60,250

Median pay in Georgia. 5,920 people work in this job in Georgia. 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.

Bottom 10%: $34,860Top 10%: $100,110

Web and Digital Interface Designers

$103,810

Median pay in Georgia. 2,800 people work in this job in Georgia. 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.

Bottom 10%: $54,910Top 10%: $172,950

Interior Designers

$71,760

Median pay in Georgia. 3,050 people work in this job in Georgia. 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.

Bottom 10%: $45,190Top 10%: $123,820

Art Directors

$110,430

Median pay in Georgia. 1,420 people work in this job in Georgia. 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.

Bottom 10%: $49,990Top 10%: $198,360

Common questions

Georgia Tech in Atlanta reports the highest median first-year pay, $52,694. Its median federal debt is $26,354.

Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked297 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 Georgia rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the design and applied arts 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