Which Massachusetts communications program has the lowest debt?

Boston College reports the lowest median federal debt, $18,500, with first-year pay of $55,162.

How much do communications graduates earn in Massachusetts?

The median across 20 Massachusetts communications bachelor's programs is $36,307 in the first year after graduating and $56,409 five years after.

How many communications bachelor's programs are in Massachusetts?

20 Massachusetts programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 20 of them also report federal debt.

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

20 programs report first-year pay
20 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 Massachusetts communications bachelor's program pays its graduates $36,307 in their first year, $1,733 more than the national median. Boston College reports the highest first-year pay ($55,162), and Boston College the lowest median debt ($18,500).

Median first-year pay$36,307National $34,574

Median pay after 5 years$56,409National $52,771

Median federal debt$26,000National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings71%National 69%

All 20 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	Boston CollegeChestnut Hill · private nonprofit	$55,162	$81,317	$18,500	34%
2	Northeastern UniversityBoston · private nonprofit	$47,465	$77,774	$23,250	49%
3	Boston UniversityBoston · private nonprofit	$47,349	$84,361	$25,108	53%
4	Emerson CollegeBoston · private nonprofit	$44,108	$62,654	$23,953	54%
5	UMass BostonBoston · public	$42,480	$56,110	$26,500	62%
6	Simmons UniversityBoston · private nonprofit	$42,256	$56,409	$26,000	62%
7	Emmanuel CollegeBoston · private nonprofit	$38,636	$61,724	$27,000	70%
8	Fisher CollegeBoston · private nonprofit	$38,510	$35,821	$27,625	72%
9	Stonehill CollegeEaston · private nonprofit	$37,543	$64,525	$25,000	67%
10	UMass AmherstAmherst · public	$36,380	$74,087	$25,125	69%
11	Endicott CollegeBeverly · private nonprofit	$36,233	$65,929	$27,000	75%
12	Salem StateSalem · public	$34,302	$53,766	$27,000	79%
13	Worcester StateWorcester · public	$34,235	$53,556	$23,250	68%
14	Bridgewater StateBridgewater · public	$34,146	$50,312	$26,848	79%
15	Westfield StateWestfield · public	$32,134	$49,901	$26,000	81%
16	Fitchburg StateFitchburg · public	$30,662	$47,027	$25,000	82%
17	Springfield CollegeSpringfield · private nonprofit	$30,607	Not reported	$27,000	88%
18	Lasell UniversityNewton · private nonprofit	$30,379	$60,669	$27,000	89%
19	Merrimack CollegeNorth Andover · private nonprofit	$29,527	$61,206	$25,783	87%
20	Curry CollegeMilton · private nonprofit	$27,516	$51,713	$26,000	94%

One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Massachusetts communications program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 20 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

$79,660

Median pay in Massachusetts. 6,760 people work in this job in Massachusetts. 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%: $51,710Top 10%: $139,240

Fundraisers

$79,060

Median pay in Massachusetts. 6,160 people work in this job in Massachusetts. 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%: $51,580Top 10%: $128,260

Editors

$83,170

Median pay in Massachusetts. 3,100 people work in this job in Massachusetts. 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%: $47,320Top 10%: $136,360

Public Relations Managers

$171,740

Median pay in Massachusetts. 2,170 people work in this job in Massachusetts. 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%: $93,220Top 10%: $315,920

Common questions

Boston College in Chestnut Hill reports the highest median first-year pay, $55,162. Its median federal debt is $18,500.

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 Massachusetts 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