Communication and Media Studies at Minnesota State University Moorhead

Minnesota State University Moorhead's communication program sits in an awkward spot: it beats the national average by $1,200 after a year, but lags behind other Minnesota programs by nearly $10,000. That gap matters because most students will be comparing this to in-state options—and the state's median for communication graduates is $40,423 versus Moorhead's $36,172. The debt load of $23,774 is reasonable, translating to a manageable 0.66 debt-to-earnings ratio, though the relatively modest starting salary means those monthly payments will still take a meaningful bite of take-home pay.

The 13% earnings growth to $41,000 by year four suggests graduates find their footing eventually, but they're essentially spending those early career years catching up to where peers at other Minnesota schools started. With fewer than 30 graduates in this dataset, these numbers could shift considerably with a different cohort, so this snapshot comes with uncertainty. For families prioritizing communication studies and in-state tuition, the program delivers a serviceable foundation with manageable debt—just understand you're trading some early earning potential compared to stronger Minnesota alternatives like Gustavus Adolphus or Metropolitan State.