Which Michigan marketing program has the lowest debt?

Walsh College reports the lowest median federal debt, $15,150, with first-year pay of $40,882.

How much do marketing graduates earn in Michigan?

The median across 18 Michigan marketing bachelor's programs is $44,596 in the first year after graduating and $62,635 five years after.

How many marketing bachelor's programs are in Michigan?

18 Michigan programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 18 of them also report federal debt.

Marketing (Bachelor's) Programs in Michigan, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

18 programs report first-year pay
18 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Marketing

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Michigan marketing bachelor's program pays its graduates $44,596 in their first year, $29 more than the national median. Michigan State reports the highest first-year pay ($57,275), and Walsh College the lowest median debt ($15,150).

Median first-year pay$44,596National $44,567

Median pay after 5 years$62,635National $64,125

Median federal debt$25,310National $24,250

Debt-to-earnings53%National 53%

All 18 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	Michigan StateEast Lansing · public	$57,275	$88,000	$23,896	42%
2	Central Michigan UniversityMount Pleasant · public	$55,296	$80,069	$27,000	49%
3	Western Michigan UniversityKalamazoo · public	$53,081	$70,079	$25,750	49%
4	Oakland UniversityRochester Hills · public	$50,087	$65,296	$25,715	51%
5	Wayne StateDetroit · public	$47,929	$58,487	$24,382	51%
6	UM-DearbornDearborn · public	$46,664	$76,210	$23,625	51%
7	Grand Valley StateAllendale · public	$46,022	$69,915	$25,000	54%
8	Baker CollegeOwosso · private nonprofit	$45,136	$58,115	$36,504	81%
9	Eastern Michigan UniversityYpsilanti · public	$44,812	$57,811	$27,000	60%
10	UM-FlintFlint · public	$44,379	$48,719	$29,000	65%
11	Northern Michigan UniversityMarquette · public	$44,377	$51,209	$23,000	52%
12	Saginaw Valley StateUniversity Center · public	$44,376	$67,719	$26,000	59%
13	Adrian CollegeAdrian · private nonprofit	$44,122	$51,054	$27,000	61%
14	Davenport UniversityGrand Rapids · private nonprofit	$43,093	$57,634	$25,000	58%
15	Cornerstone UniversityGrand Rapids · private nonprofit	$42,627	Not reported	$21,488	50%
16	Walsh CollegeTroy · private nonprofit	$40,882	$77,512	$15,150	37%
17	Northwood UniversityMidland · private nonprofit	$40,297	$57,494	$25,169	62%
18	Ferris StateBig Rapids · public	$39,668	$75,891	$25,450	64%

Debt and first-year pay at every Michigan marketing program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 18 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 marketing, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists

$66,780

Median pay in Michigan. 24,220 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 82,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $40,930Top 10%: $127,190

Sales Managers

$136,870

Median pay in Michigan. 17,950 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $69,790Top 10%: $230,070

Marketing Managers

$138,510

Median pay in Michigan. 6,620 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 34,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $80,260Top 10%: $222,910

Web and Digital Interface Designers

$81,010

Median pay in Michigan. 1,750 people work in this job in Michigan. 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%: $42,660Top 10%: $140,830

Common questions

Michigan State in East Lansing reports the highest median first-year pay, $57,275. Its median federal debt is $23,896.

Marketing (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked471 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 Michigan rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the marketing 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