Which Pennsylvania communications program has the lowest debt?

UPenn reports the lowest median federal debt, $15,637, with first-year pay of $53,022.

How much do communications graduates earn in Pennsylvania?

The median across 37 Pennsylvania communications bachelor's programs is $31,994 in the first year after graduating and $51,293 five years after.

How many communications bachelor's programs are in Pennsylvania?

37 Pennsylvania programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 31 of them also report federal debt.

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

37 programs report first-year pay
31 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 Pennsylvania communications bachelor's program pays its graduates $31,994 in their first year, $2,580 less than the national median. UPenn reports the highest first-year pay ($53,022), and UPenn the lowest median debt ($15,637).

Median first-year pay$31,994National $34,574

Median pay after 5 years$51,293National $52,771

Median federal debt$26,995National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings82%National 69%

All 37 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	UPennPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$53,022	$87,743	$15,637	29%
2	Villanova UniversityVillanova · private nonprofit	$52,294	$74,641	$26,456	51%
3	Messiah UniversityMechanicsburg · private nonprofit	$45,021	$44,343	Not reported	Not reported
4	Washington & Jefferson CollegeWashington · private nonprofit	$39,584	Not reported	$27,000	68%
5	Saint Joseph's UniversityPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$38,024	$64,999	$26,990	71%
6	Wilkes UniversityWilkes-Barre · private nonprofit	$36,271	$54,942	$27,000	74%
7	La Salle UniversityPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$36,037	$54,978	$26,924	75%
8	Millersville University of PennsylvaniaMillersville · public	$35,999	$52,757	$26,000	72%
9	Kutztown University of PennsylvaniaKutztown · public	$35,957	Not reported	$26,000	72%
10	Slippery Rock University of PennsylvaniaSlippery Rock · public	$35,840	$46,911	$26,000	73%
11	University of PittsburghPittsburgh · public	$35,781	$57,752	$27,000	75%
12	Ursinus CollegeCollegeville · private nonprofit	$35,420	$57,903	$27,000	76%
13	Temple UniversityPhiladelphia · public	$34,496	$51,965	$24,880	72%
14	Penn StateUniversity Park · public	$34,181	$49,390	$25,875	76%
15	Duquesne UniversityPittsburgh · private nonprofit	$33,275	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
16	Mercyhurst UniversityErie · private nonprofit	$32,729	$50,801	$26,000	79%
17	Juniata CollegeHuntingdon · private nonprofit	$32,470	$62,832	$27,000	83%
18	Neumann UniversityAston · private nonprofit	$32,386	$44,983	$27,375	85%
19	Allegheny CollegeMeadville · private nonprofit	$31,994	$62,082	$27,000	84%
20	York College of PennsylvaniaYork · private nonprofit	$31,789	$45,014	$26,000	82%
21	Albright CollegeReading · private nonprofit	$31,704	$59,684	$27,000	85%
22	Commonwealth University of PennsylvaniaBloomsburg · public	$31,419	$49,469	$27,000	86%
23	Pennsylvania Western UniversityCalifornia · public	$31,298	$44,781	Not reported	Not reported
24	Lancaster Bible CollegeLancaster · private nonprofit	$31,046	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
25	Elizabethtown CollegeElizabethtown · private nonprofit	$31,003	$56,121	$26,000	84%
26	Widener UniversityChester · private nonprofit	$30,732	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
27	East Stroudsburg University of PennsylvaniaEast Stroudsburg · public	$29,963	$50,501	$26,000	87%
28	Muhlenberg CollegeAllentown · private nonprofit	$29,950	$70,391	$24,250	81%
29	Indiana University of PennsylvaniaIndiana · public	$29,858	$45,817	$27,000	90%
30	King's CollegeWilkes-Barre · private nonprofit	$29,798	$51,030	$27,000	91%
31	Lycoming CollegeWilliamsport · private nonprofit	$29,696	$54,573	$27,000	91%
32	Waynesburg UniversityWaynesburg · private nonprofit	$29,070	$45,244	$27,000	93%
33	Chestnut Hill CollegePhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$28,212	$51,010	$27,000	96%
34	Arcadia UniversityGlenside · private nonprofit	$27,061	$51,035	$27,000	100%
35	Saint Vincent CollegeLatrobe · private nonprofit	$25,889	$51,551	$27,000	104%
36	Eastern UniversitySaint Davids · private nonprofit	$25,732	$43,059	$26,000	101%
37	Geneva CollegeBeaver Falls · private nonprofit	$25,048	$46,631	Not reported	Not reported

6 programs 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 Pennsylvania communications program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 31 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

UPenn$53,022
Villanova University$52,294
Messiah University$45,021
Washington & Jefferson College$39,584
Saint Joseph's University$38,024

Lowest median debt

UPenn$15,637
Muhlenberg College$24,250
Temple University$24,880
Penn State$25,875
Millersville University of Pennsylvania$26,000

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

$57,460

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 11,180 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $32,810Top 10%: $102,330

Fundraisers

$63,730

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 6,180 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $45,110Top 10%: $98,870

Editors

$63,460

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 3,240 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $37,240Top 10%: $114,560

Public Relations Managers

$118,050

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 2,210 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $68,890Top 10%: $206,910

Common questions

UPenn in Philadelphia reports the highest median first-year pay, $53,022. Its median federal debt is $15,637.

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 Pennsylvania 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