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

Longwood University reports the lowest median federal debt, $25,625, with first-year pay of $35,612.

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

The median across 6 Virginia design and applied arts bachelor's programs is $33,638 in the first year after graduating and $49,801 five years after.

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

6 Virginia programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 6 of them also report federal debt.

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

6 programs report first-year pay
6 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 Virginia design and applied arts bachelor's program pays its graduates $33,638 in their first year, $102 more than the national median. Virginia Tech reports the highest first-year pay ($46,761), and Longwood University the lowest median debt ($25,625).

Median first-year pay$33,638National $33,536

Median pay after 5 years$49,801National $50,431

Median federal debt$25,969National $27,000

Debt-to-earnings80%National 77%

All 6 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	Virginia TechBlacksburg · public	$46,761	$65,699	$25,802	55%
2	Longwood UniversityFarmville · public	$35,612	Not reported	$25,625	72%
3	Radford UniversityRadford · public	$34,096	$47,401	$27,000	79%
4	Marymount UniversityArlington · private nonprofit	$33,180	$60,370	$27,000	81%
5	Liberty UniversityLynchburg · private nonprofit	$30,019	$45,177	$26,000	87%
6	VCURichmond · public	$25,872	$49,801	$25,937	100%

Debt and first-year pay at every Virginia design and applied arts program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 6 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 design and applied arts, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Graphic Designers

$72,310

Median pay in Virginia. 4,740 people work in this job in Virginia. 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%: $39,020Top 10%: $121,680

Web and Digital Interface Designers

$77,140

Median pay in Virginia. 1,990 people work in this job in Virginia. 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%: $42,080Top 10%: $140,490

Interior Designers

$62,560

Median pay in Virginia. 1,550 people work in this job in Virginia. 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%: $43,230Top 10%: $100,030

Art Directors

$101,150

Median pay in Virginia. 670 people work in this job in Virginia. 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%: $64,010Top 10%: $165,010

Common questions

Virginia Tech in Blacksburg reports the highest median first-year pay, $46,761. Its median federal debt is $25,802.

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 Virginia 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