Journalism at San Diego State University

San Diego State's journalism program graduates start at $30,269—about $1,500 below the state median and more than $4,000 below the national average for journalism majors. While journalism is notoriously low-paying as a field, these graduates are earning less than 60% of what their peers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo make starting out. Even within California's journalism programs, SDSU ranks only in the 40th percentile.

The one bright spot here is debt: at $15,000, it's notably lower than both the California median ($19,000) and national median ($24,000) for journalism programs. That keeps the debt-to-earnings ratio at a manageable 0.50, meaning graduates should be able to handle their loans even on entry-level journalism salaries. For a field where economic pressures have squeezed traditional media jobs and starting salaries remain stubbornly low, keeping debt under control matters enormously.

If your child is committed to journalism and likely to attend a California public university, SDSU offers an affordable entry point into a difficult field. But they should understand they're starting behind peers at California's top programs—sometimes by $10,000+ annually. The real question is whether SDSU's lower cost (and presumably in-state tuition advantage) offsets that earnings gap over time.