Federal Data · No Paid Rankings

Best Colleges for Communications

Top communications, journalism, and media programs ranked by what their communications graduates earn, plus completion rates, debt and actual cost. Federal data. No paid rankings.

421

Schools with communications earnings data

914

Schools with communications programs in dataset

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How We Rank Communications Schools

These rankings use what communications bachelor's graduates earn, not the school-wide average. College Scorecard publishes earnings three years after graduation for each field of study. A school is ranked when it has a published figure for communication and media studies, journalism, radio, television and digital communication, and public relations and advertising and at least 25 graduates behind it. Where a school has more than one of these programs, the largest is used and the table names it under the figure. Each school is then scored on our 5-component composite using federal data: communications graduate earnings (28%), graduation rate (25%), social mobility via Pell Grant share (20%), debt burden (15%), and net cost for low-income students (12%). Where a school has not reported one of these, that component is dropped and the remaining weights are rescaled rather than filled in with an estimate. A school with no net price on file for families earning up to $30,000 is scored on its overall average net price instead. Only 4-year non-profit schools with sufficient data qualify.

→Earnings: Median annual earnings of communications bachelor's graduates three years after they graduate. Source: College Scorecard.
→Graduation rate: Full-time first-time students completing within 150% of normal time. Source: IPEDS.
→Net price: Average annual cost after all grants and scholarships. Source: IPEDS.
→Social mobility: Share of students receiving Pell Grants, a direct measure of access for low-income students. Source: IPEDS.
→Debt burden: Median federal loan debt at graduation. Source: College Scorecard.

Top 10 Communications Schools (2026)

Ranked by composite: communications graduate earnings, graduation rate, social mobility, debt, affordability.

#	School	Accept	Net Price/yr	Grad Rate	Gradsin communications	Earnings (3yr)communications grads
1	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	11%	$16,538	93%	265	$61,158Communication and media studies
2	Cornell University Ithaca, NY	8.8%	$26,361	95%	64	$65,089Communication and media studies
3	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	5.4%	$23,570	97%	62	$63,398Communication and media studies
4	Berea College Berea, KY	19.3%	$5,888	58%	26	$36,495Communication and media studies
5	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA	14.1%	$15,918	94%	65	$69,552Radio, television and digital communication
6	CUNY City College New York, NY	60%	$4,664	57%	69	$45,100Communication and media studies
7	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA	16.8%	$18,427	96%	152	$58,280Communication and media studies
8	University of California-Davis Davis, CA	41.8%	$17,270	86%	288	$50,694Communication and media studies
9	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA	33%	$17,658	83%	620	$54,875Communication and media studies
10	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	15.6%	$17,574	93%	209	$56,558Communication and media studies

421 of 914 schools with Communications programs have published communications graduate earnings and are ranked. Top 10 shown. Earnings are the median for communications bachelor's graduates three years after graduation, and Grads is how many graduates that figure covers. Data: IPEDS + College Scorecard. Updated annually.

All 914 Colleges in the Dataset

The ranking above shows the top 10 by composite score. Every school in the full dataset is listed here so you can explore beyond the top results.

A

Abilene Christian University Adams State University Adelphi University Adrian College Agnes Scott College Alabama A & M University Alabama State University Albany State University Albertus Magnus College Albion College Albright College Alcorn State University Alfred University Alice Lloyd College Allegheny College Alma College Alvernia University Alverno College American International College American University Anderson University Anderson University Andrew College Andrews University Angelo State University Anna Maria College Appalachian State University Aquinas College Arcadia University Arizona Christian University Arizona State University Campus Immersion Arkansas State University Arkansas Tech University Asbury University Ashland University Assumption University Auburn University Auburn University at Montgomery Augsburg University Augusta University Augustana College Augustana University Aurora University Austin College Austin Peay State University Ave Maria University Averett University Avila University Azusa Pacific University

B

Baker College Baker University Bakersfield College Baldwin Wallace University Ball State University Barry University Barton College Baylor University Belhaven University Bellarmine University Bellevue University Belmont University Beloit College Bemidji State University Benedict College Benedictine College Benedictine University Bennett College Bennington College Bentley University Berea College Berry College Bethany College Bethany Lutheran College Bethel College-North Newton Bethel University Bethel University Bethune-Cookman University Biola University Birmingham-Southern College Bismarck State College Black Hills State University Blackburn College Bloomfield College of Montclair State University Blue Mountain Christian University Bluefield University Bluffton University Bob Jones University Boise State University Boston College Boston University Bowie State University Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bradley University Brenau University Brewton-Parker College Briar Cliff University Bridgewater College Bridgewater State University Brigham Young University Brigham Young University-Hawaii Brigham Young University-Idaho Broward College Brown University Bryan College-Dayton Bryant University Buena Vista University Bushnell University Butler University

C

105

P

Q

Queens University of Charlotte Quinnipiac University

R

Radford University Ramapo College of New Jersey Randolph-Macon College Regent University Regis University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rhode Island College Rider University Roanoke College Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester University Roger Williams University Rogers State University Rollins College Roosevelt University Rowan University Rust College Rutgers University-New Brunswick Rutgers University-Newark

S

Sacred Heart University Saginaw Valley State University Saint Ambrose University Saint Anselm College Saint Cloud State University Saint Edward's University Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia Saint Louis University Saint Mary's College Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Saint Michael's College Saint Norbert College Saint Peter's University Saint Vincent College Saint Xavier University Salem State University Salisbury University Salve Regina University Sam Houston State University Samford University San Diego State University San Francisco State University San Jose State University Santa Clara University Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah State University Seattle Pacific University Seattle University Seton Hall University Seton Hill University Shaw University Shepherd University Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Shorter University Siena Heights University Simmons University Simpson College Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania Sonoma State University South Carolina State University South Dakota State University Southeast Missouri State University Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern University Southern Connecticut State University Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Southern Methodist University Southern New Hampshire University Southern Oregon University Southern University and A & M College Southern Utah University Southern Wesleyan University Southwestern Oklahoma State University Southwestern University Spring Arbor University St Bonaventure University St Catherine University St Lawrence University St. Francis College St. John Fisher University St. John's University-New York St. Mary's University St. Thomas Aquinas College State University of New York at Cortland State University of New York at New Paltz State University of New York at Oswego State University of New York at Plattsburgh Stephen F Austin State University Stetson University Stockton University Stonehill College Stony Brook University Suffolk University SUNY at Fredonia SUNY at Purchase College SUNY Brockport SUNY Buffalo State University SUNY College at Geneseo SUNY College at Potsdam SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill SUNY Old Westbury SUNY Oneonta Susquehanna University Syracuse University

T

U

168

V

Valdosta State University Valparaiso University Vanderbilt University Vanguard University of Southern California Vassar College Villanova University Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia State University Virginia Union University Virginia Wesleyan University

W

X

Xavier University Xavier University of Louisiana

Y

York College of Pennsylvania Young Harris College Youngstown State University

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