Which New York writing and rhetoric program has the lowest debt?

Brooklyn College reports the lowest median federal debt, $19,500, with first-year pay of $20,242.

How much do writing and rhetoric graduates earn in New York?

The median across 12 New York writing and rhetoric bachelor's programs is $25,689 in the first year after graduating and $40,597 five years after.

How many writing and rhetoric bachelor's programs are in New York?

12 New York programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 10 of them also report federal debt.

Writing and Rhetoric (Bachelor's) Programs in New York, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

12 programs report first-year pay
10 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median New York writing and rhetoric bachelor's program pays its graduates $25,689 in their first year, $2,741 less than the national median. Columbia University reports the highest first-year pay ($36,244), and Brooklyn College the lowest median debt ($19,500).

Median first-year pay$25,689National $28,430

Median pay after 5 years$40,597National $47,988

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

Debt-to-earnings99%National 82%

All 12 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	Columbia UniversityNew York · private nonprofit	$36,244	$67,649	Not reported	Not reported
2	St. Joseph's University-New YorkBrooklyn · private nonprofit	$33,205	$62,254	$26,170	79%
3	Hamilton CollegeClinton · private nonprofit	$28,442	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
4	SUNY OswegoOswego · public	$28,103	$42,680	$26,000	93%
5	Manhattanville UniversityPurchase · private nonprofit	$26,779	Not reported	$27,000	101%
6	Ithaca CollegeIthaca · private nonprofit	$26,443	$38,514	$25,000	95%
7	Syracuse UniversitySyracuse · private nonprofit	$24,935	Not reported	$27,000	108%
8	Binghamton UniversityVestal · public	$24,377	$58,435	$20,500	84%
9	SUNY College at PotsdamPotsdam · public	$20,455	$29,477	$27,000	132%
10	Brooklyn CollegeBrooklyn · public	$20,242	$38,415	$19,500	96%
11	Pratt InstituteBrooklyn · private nonprofit	$18,842	Not reported	$26,000	138%
12	SUNY Purchase CollegePurchase · public	$16,556	$32,973	$23,250	140%

Columbia University and Hamilton College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every New York writing and rhetoric program

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

Columbia University$36,244
St. Joseph's University-New York$33,205
Hamilton College$28,442
SUNY Oswego$28,103
Manhattanville University$26,779

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 writing and rhetoric, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Editors

$101,480

Median pay in New York. 16,800 people work in this job in New York. 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%: $57,910Top 10%: $179,370

Writers and Authors

$76,910

Median pay nationwide. 7,480 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 11,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Technical Writers

$98,310

Median pay in New York. 1,610 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $53,560Top 10%: $152,570

Proofreaders and Copy Markers

$59,740

Median pay in New York. 1,030 people work in this job in New York. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $39,080Top 10%: $97,300

Common questions

Columbia University in New York reports the highest median first-year pay, $36,244.

Writing and Rhetoric (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked110 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 New York rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the writing and rhetoric 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