Which Missouri communications program has the lowest debt?

Missouri Southern State reports the lowest median federal debt, $18,350, with first-year pay of $30,201.

How much do communications graduates earn in Missouri?

The median across 11 Missouri communications bachelor's programs is $33,905 in the first year after graduating and $52,320 five years after.

How many communications bachelor's programs are in Missouri?

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

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

11 programs report first-year pay
11 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 Missouri communications bachelor's program pays its graduates $33,905 in their first year, $669 less than the national median. University of Missouri reports the highest first-year pay ($44,078), and Missouri Southern State the lowest median debt ($18,350).

Median first-year pay$33,905National $34,574

Median pay after 5 years$52,320National $52,771

Median federal debt$24,343National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings69%National 69%

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	University of MissouriColumbia · public	$44,078	$59,233	$20,500	47%
2	Lindenwood UniversitySaint Charles · private nonprofit	$41,579	$52,765	$28,500	69%
3	UMKCKansas City · public	$38,786	$54,079	$21,982	57%
4	Southeast Missouri StateCape Girardeau · public	$35,282	$47,311	$24,500	69%
5	Northwest Missouri StateMaryville · public	$34,195	$49,892	$26,000	76%
6	Avila UniversityKansas City · private nonprofit	$33,905	$44,343	$27,000	80%
7	UMSLSaint Louis · public	$32,809	$49,044	$21,326	65%
8	Missouri StateSpringfield · public	$32,076	$41,658	$25,000	78%
9	Truman StateKirksville · public	$31,853	$52,801	$23,250	73%
10	Missouri Southern StateJoplin · public	$30,201	$53,540	$18,350	61%
11	Saint Louis UniversitySaint Louis · private nonprofit	$30,047	$54,797	$24,343	81%

2 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Missouri communications program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 11 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

$61,130

Median pay in Missouri. 4,820 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $38,490Top 10%: $102,850

Fundraisers

$63,860

Median pay in Missouri. 1,670 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $44,290Top 10%: $100,090

Editors

$61,620

Median pay in Missouri. 880 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $36,060Top 10%: $104,680

Public Relations Managers

$114,710

Median pay in Missouri. 760 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $74,350Top 10%: $203,610

Common questions

University of Missouri in Columbia reports the highest median first-year pay, $44,078. Its median federal debt is $20,500.

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 Missouri 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