Which Michigan public relations and advertising program has the lowest debt?

Northwood University reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,250, with first-year pay of $41,857.

How much do public relations and advertising graduates earn in Michigan?

The median across 11 Michigan public relations and advertising bachelor's programs is $40,299 in the first year after graduating and $56,578 five years after.

Public Relations and Advertising (Bachelor's) Programs in Michigan, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Q: How many public relations and advertising bachelor's programs are in Michigan?

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

11 programs report first-year pay
10 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Michigan public relations and advertising bachelor's program pays its graduates $40,299 in their first year, $622 more than the national median. Michigan State reports the highest first-year pay ($45,158), and Northwood University the lowest median debt ($20,250).

Median first-year pay$40,299National $39,677

Median pay after 5 years$56,578National $58,304

Median federal debt$24,938National $24,693

Debt-to-earnings62%National 62%

All 11 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	$45,158	$71,448	$23,899	53%
2	Northwood UniversityMidland · private nonprofit	$41,857	$61,166	$20,250	48%
3	Eastern Michigan UniversityYpsilanti · public	$41,420	$54,771	$24,755	60%
4	Wayne StateDetroit · public	$41,306	$58,814	$27,000	65%
5	Central Michigan UniversityMount Pleasant · public	$40,346	$60,505	$27,000	67%
6	Oakland UniversityRochester Hills · public	$40,299	Not reported	$24,975	62%
7	Siena Heights UniversityAdrian · private nonprofit	$39,677	$52,812	$24,900	63%
8	Ferris StateBig Rapids · public	$38,375	$53,599	$22,580	59%
9	Grand Valley StateAllendale · public	$38,172	$55,205	$26,377	69%
10	Western Michigan UniversityKalamazoo · public	$37,718	$57,951	$27,000	72%
11	Northern Michigan UniversityMarquette · public	$34,319	$52,585	Not reported	Not reported

Northern Michigan University reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Michigan public relations and advertising 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 10 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 public relations and advertising, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Training and Development Specialists

$64,350

Median pay in Michigan. 10,640 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 11% from 2025 to 2035, with about 46,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $38,550Top 10%: $106,250

Public Relations Specialists

$65,300

Median pay in Michigan. 7,510 people work in this job in Michigan. 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%: $38,560Top 10%: $117,290

Human Resources Managers

$138,930

Median pay in Michigan. 5,890 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $88,990Top 10%: $224,880

Fundraisers

$66,130

Median pay in Michigan. 3,170 people work in this job in Michigan. 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%: $43,620Top 10%: $106,100

Common questions

Michigan State in East Lansing reports the highest median first-year pay, $45,158. Its median federal debt is $23,899.

Public Relations and Advertising (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked179 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 public relations and advertising 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