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

UIUC reports the lowest median federal debt, $18,839, with first-year pay of $34,670.

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

The median across 10 Illinois design and applied arts bachelor's programs is $30,083 in the first year after graduating and $54,631 five years after.

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

10 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 8 of them also report federal debt.

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

10 programs report first-year pay
8 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 Illinois design and applied arts bachelor's program pays its graduates $30,083 in their first year, $3,453 less than the national median. Illinois State reports the highest first-year pay ($39,287), and UIUC the lowest median debt ($18,839).

Median first-year pay$30,083National $33,536

Median pay after 5 years$54,631National $50,431

Median federal debt$26,364National $27,000

Debt-to-earnings83%National 77%

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	Illinois StateNormal · public	$39,287	Not reported	$24,986	64%
2	Judson UniversityElgin · private nonprofit	$37,466	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
3	UIUCChampaign · public	$34,670	$70,046	$18,839	54%
4	UICChicago · public	$34,377	$50,710	$25,750	75%
5	DePaul UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$30,536	$61,069	$27,000	88%
6	Columbia College ChicagoChicago · private nonprofit	$29,630	$46,082	$27,000	91%
7	North Central CollegeNaperville · private nonprofit	$28,037	$54,631	$22,000	78%
8	Dominican UniversityRiver Forest · private nonprofit	$22,938	Not reported	$26,978	118%
9	Bradley UniversityPeoria · private nonprofit	$22,893	$55,746	Not reported	Not reported
10	Roosevelt UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$19,028	Not reported	$27,000	142%

Judson University and Bradley University report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois design and applied arts 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 8 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Illinois State$39,287
Judson University$37,466
UIUC$34,670
UIC$34,377
DePaul University$30,536

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

$62,560

Median pay in Illinois. 8,960 people work in this job in Illinois. 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%: $36,060Top 10%: $98,750

Web and Digital Interface Designers

$85,710

Median pay in Illinois. 2,050 people work in this job in Illinois. 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%: $58,090Top 10%: $157,670

Interior Designers

$76,290

Median pay in Illinois. 2,570 people work in this job in Illinois. 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%: $44,620Top 10%: $131,990

Art Directors

$103,550

Median pay in Illinois. 2,960 people work in this job in Illinois. 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%: $69,200Top 10%: $172,050

Common questions

Illinois State in Normal reports the highest median first-year pay, $39,287. Its median federal debt is $24,986.

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 Illinois 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