Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication at Oral Roberts University

Based on comparable programs in Oklahoma, this communications degree appears to follow a familiar pattern: first-year earnings around $36,400 against estimated debt of nearly $26,000. That debt figure—derived from similar private institutions nationally—runs about $4,300 higher than what other Oklahoma schools typically report for this major, which matters when you're asking whether the premium price delivers a premium outcome.

The earnings estimate, pulled from just three Oklahoma programs, puts graduates right at the state median but roughly $3,400 below the national benchmark of nearly $40,000. More concerning is the gap with University of Oklahoma's reported figure of $45,800—that's $9,400 more annually, meaning OU grads could theoretically pay off an extra $47,000 in debt over five years with that differential alone. With a 0.71 debt-to-earnings ratio, this program isn't financially alarming, but it's not particularly advantageous either.

The uncertainty here cuts both ways. ORU might produce better outcomes than these peer-program estimates suggest, or the relatively open admissions (99% acceptance rate) could mean outcomes skew lower. For a field where internships, portfolio quality, and networking often matter as much as the credential itself, you're betting on intangibles that the available data simply can't confirm. If your child has strong reasons to attend ORU specifically—faith alignment, campus culture, mentorship—those might justify the premium. If it's purely about career ROI in communications, the numbers suggest looking at programs with reported outcomes first.