Which Illinois communications program has the lowest debt?

Moody Bible Institute reports the lowest median federal debt, $11,812, with first-year pay of $36,963.

How much do communications graduates earn in Illinois?

The median across 26 Illinois communications bachelor's programs is $35,991 in the first year after graduating and $52,179 five years after.

How many communications bachelor's programs are in Illinois?

26 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 24 of them also report federal debt.

Communications (Bachelor's) Programs in Illinois, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

26 programs report first-year pay
24 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Communication and Media Studies

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Illinois communications bachelor's program pays its graduates $35,991 in their first year, $1,417 more than the national median. Northwestern University reports the highest first-year pay ($52,210), and Moody Bible Institute the lowest median debt ($11,812).

Median first-year pay$35,991National $34,574

Median pay after 5 years$52,179National $52,771

Median federal debt$23,792National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings68%National 69%

All 26 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	Northwestern UniversityEvanston · private nonprofit	$52,210	$90,012	$18,112	35%
2	DeVry UniversityLisle · private for-profit	$47,622	$47,760	$56,858	119%
3	Lake Forest CollegeLake Forest · private nonprofit	$42,835	$68,321	$27,000	63%
4	Elmhurst UniversityElmhurst · private nonprofit	$41,423	$50,554	Not reported	Not reported
5	Augustana CollegeRock Island · private nonprofit	$40,806	$63,279	$26,375	65%
6	Wheaton CollegeWheaton · private nonprofit	$39,321	$63,267	$23,250	59%
7	UICChicago · public	$38,912	$63,943	$20,750	53%
8	Northern Illinois UniversityDekalb · public	$38,490	$56,644	$27,000	70%
9	Illinois StateNormal · public	$38,125	$59,685	$20,125	53%
10	UIUCChampaign · public	$37,808	$71,207	$19,500	52%
11	Eastern Illinois UniversityCharleston · public	$37,778	$53,765	$26,000	69%
12	Moody Bible InstituteChicago · private nonprofit	$36,963	Not reported	$11,812	32%
13	Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsville · public	$36,569	$48,374	$21,759	60%
14	Millikin UniversityDecatur · private nonprofit	$35,413	$47,358	$21,149	60%
15	DePaul UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$34,453	$59,525	$22,916	67%
16	Western Illinois UniversityMacomb · public	$34,142	$51,354	$30,000	88%
17	Trinity International University-IllinoisDeerfield · private nonprofit	$33,341	$45,075	Not reported	Not reported
18	Northeastern Illinois UniversityChicago · public	$32,538	$47,402	$15,630	48%
19	Southern Illinois University-CarbondaleCarbondale · public	$32,465	Not reported	$26,543	82%
20	Saint Xavier UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$32,169	$57,123	$26,311	82%
21	University of Illinois SpringfieldSpringfield · public	$32,050	$48,076	$24,322	76%
22	Loyola ChicagoChicago · private nonprofit	$31,495	$54,354	$25,000	79%
23	Aurora UniversityAurora · private nonprofit	$30,728	$46,836	$23,262	76%
24	Benedictine UniversityLisle · private nonprofit	$30,334	$54,475	$26,000	86%
25	Governors StateUniversity Park · public	$27,071	$52,179	$20,340	75%
26	Olivet Nazarene UniversityBourbonnais · private nonprofit	$23,259	$44,711	$27,000	116%

Elmhurst University and Trinity International University-Illinois report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

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 the 24 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Northwestern University$52,210
DeVry University$47,622
Lake Forest College$42,835
Elmhurst University$41,423
Augustana College$40,806

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 communications, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Public Relations Specialists

$76,380

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $47,690Top 10%: $139,570

Fundraisers

$66,440

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $43,580Top 10%: $107,820

Editors

$76,060

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $46,410Top 10%: $107,850

Public Relations Managers

$131,990

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $75,730Top 10%: $221,440

Common questions

Northwestern University in Evanston reports the highest median first-year pay, $52,210. Its median federal debt is $18,112.

Communications (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked577 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 Illinois rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the communications 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