Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication at Ohio Media School-Columbus

These numbers are nearly meaningless due to the tiny sample size, but what they suggest isn't promising. At $15,718 in first-year earnings, graduates barely exceed minimum wage territory—think $7.50/hour—despite taking on nearly $16,000 in debt. That's a ratio just over 1:1, which sounds balanced until you realize you're dedicating a year's worth of post-graduation income to pay off debt from a certificate program.

The 60th percentile state ranking is misleading given that Ohio only has seven schools offering this program, and the difference between the "top" and bottom performers is negligible—just $1,500 separates the highest earner from the lowest. More concerning: this is a certificate program at a for-profit institution where 63% of students need Pell grants, suggesting many come from lower-income backgrounds who can least afford a credential with such weak earning power.

If your child is considering this program, ask hard questions about what specific job it qualifies them for that they couldn't access otherwise. At these earnings levels and with this debt load, they'd likely be better off seeking entry-level positions directly, building experience, and avoiding the debt altogether. The small sample also means one or two outliers could make these numbers look artificially better—or worse—than reality.