Which Ohio design and applied arts program has the lowest debt?

Cedarville University reports the lowest median federal debt, $25,000, with first-year pay of $35,768.

How much do design and applied arts graduates earn in Ohio?

The median across 15 Ohio design and applied arts bachelor's programs is $35,645 in the first year after graduating and $52,668 five years after.

How many design and applied arts bachelor's programs are in Ohio?

15 Ohio programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 13 of them also report federal debt.

Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's) Programs in Ohio, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

15 programs report first-year pay
13 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Design and Applied Arts

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Ohio design and applied arts bachelor's program pays its graduates $35,645 in their first year, $2,109 more than the national median. University of Cincinnati reports the highest first-year pay ($52,526), and Cedarville University the lowest median debt ($25,000).

Median first-year pay$35,645National $33,536

Median pay after 5 years$52,668National $50,431

Median federal debt$26,938National $27,000

Debt-to-earnings76%National 77%

All 15 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 CincinnatiCincinnati · public	$52,526	$69,447	$25,851	49%
2	Miami UniversityOxford · public	$47,295	$67,080	$26,000	55%
3	Ohio StateColumbus · public	$45,176	$69,416	$25,100	56%
4	University of DaytonDayton · private nonprofit	$43,609	$60,018	Not reported	Not reported
5	University of AkronAkron · public	$39,856	$49,246	$27,000	68%
6	Kent StateKent · public	$36,351	$52,096	$26,000	72%
7	Cedarville UniversityCedarville · private nonprofit	$35,768	$53,239	$25,000	70%
8	Bowling Green StateBowling Green · public	$35,645	$51,779	$27,000	76%
9	Baldwin Wallace UniversityBerea · private nonprofit	$31,749	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
10	Columbus College of Art & DesignColumbus · private nonprofit	$27,970	$40,747	$27,000	97%
11	Cleveland StateCleveland · public	$24,959	$45,790	$26,875	108%
12	Ohio UniversityAthens · public	$24,716	$53,422	$26,791	108%
13	Shawnee StatePortsmouth · public	$24,375	$30,713	$29,000	119%
14	Cleveland Institute of ArtCleveland · private nonprofit	$23,358	Not reported	$27,000	116%
15	Art Academy of CincinnatiCincinnati · private nonprofit	$20,921	$37,445	$27,000	129%

University of Dayton and Baldwin Wallace University 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 Ohio design and applied arts program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 13 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

University of Cincinnati$52,526
Miami University$47,295
Ohio State$45,176
University of Dayton$43,609
University of Akron$39,856

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 design and applied arts, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Graphic Designers

$60,080

Median pay in Ohio. 7,280 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $39,050Top 10%: $99,370

Web and Digital Interface Designers

$83,360

Median pay in Ohio. 2,520 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $48,940Top 10%: $151,090

Interior Designers

$61,410

Median pay in Ohio. 2,180 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $47,080Top 10%: $103,530

Art Directors

$94,390

Median pay in Ohio. 1,050 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $57,740Top 10%: $148,080

Common questions

University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati reports the highest median first-year pay, $52,526. Its median federal debt is $25,851.

Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked297 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 Ohio rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the design and applied arts 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