Which Indiana communications program has the lowest debt?

University of Southern Indiana reports the lowest median federal debt, $17,860, with first-year pay of $29,059.

How much do communications graduates earn in Indiana?

The median across 17 Indiana communications bachelor's programs is $34,213 in the first year after graduating and $49,909 five years after.

How many communications bachelor's programs are in Indiana?

17 Indiana programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 16 of them also report federal debt.

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

17 programs report first-year pay
16 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 Indiana communications bachelor's program pays its graduates $34,213 in their first year, $361 less than the national median. DePauw University reports the highest first-year pay ($43,141), and University of Southern Indiana the lowest median debt ($17,860).

Median first-year pay$34,213National $34,574

Median pay after 5 years$49,909National $52,771

Median federal debt$25,145National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings67%National 69%

All 17 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	DePauw UniversityGreencastle · private nonprofit	$43,141	$64,923	$27,000	63%
2	PurdueWest Lafayette · public	$41,409	$58,742	$18,500	45%
3	IU IndianapolisIndianapolis · public	$39,775	$47,095	$20,500	52%
4	Purdue Fort WayneFort Wayne · public	$39,712	$47,998	$25,289	64%
5	IU South BendSouth Bend · public	$38,094	$44,585	$26,000	68%
6	IU EastRichmond · public	$37,463	$48,478	$24,462	65%
7	IU BloomingtonBloomington · public	$36,700	$63,211	$21,500	59%
8	Valparaiso UniversityValparaiso · private nonprofit	$35,164	$56,864	$27,000	77%
9	Indiana StateTerre Haute · public	$34,213	$44,519	$25,000	73%
10	Ball StateMuncie · public	$33,815	$49,909	$21,550	64%
11	University of IndianapolisIndianapolis · private nonprofit	$33,054	$44,793	$27,000	82%
12	Saint Mary's CollegeNotre Dame · private nonprofit	$32,322	$64,387	$27,000	84%
13	Hanover CollegeHanover · private nonprofit	$31,621	$52,270	$27,000	85%
14	IU KokomoKokomo · public	$31,085	$54,183	Not reported	Not reported
15	University of Southern IndianaEvansville · public	$29,059	$53,266	$17,860	61%
16	IU SoutheastNew Albany · public	$26,777	$45,563	$20,500	77%
17	Purdue NorthwestHammond · public	$25,541	$45,137	$28,000	110%

IU Kokomo reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Indiana communications program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 16 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 communications, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Public Relations Specialists

$64,900

Median pay in Indiana. 3,750 people work in this job in Indiana. 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%: $42,060Top 10%: $105,580

Fundraisers

$66,250

Median pay in Indiana. 2,080 people work in this job in Indiana. 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%: $46,070Top 10%: $100,230

Editors

$56,440

Median pay in Indiana. 830 people work in this job in Indiana. 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%: $30,860Top 10%: $99,380

Public Relations Managers

$114,960

Median pay in Indiana. 600 people work in this job in Indiana. 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%: $75,520Top 10%: $198,300

Common questions

DePauw University in Greencastle reports the highest median first-year pay, $43,141. Its median federal debt is $27,000.

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 Indiana 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