Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication at University of Akron Main Campus

University of Akron's communications program gets students to work with relatively low debt—just $27,000 at graduation, which puts it in the 5th percentile nationally (meaning 95% of comparable programs leave students with more debt). The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.65 is manageable, and graduates earn above the national median for this field. The challenge is Ohio context: while this program beats the national average, it lands squarely in the middle of Ohio's communications landscape at the 40th percentile, with graduates earning about $7,000 less than peers at Miami University.

The earnings trajectory shows steady if unspectacular growth, climbing from $41,396 to $44,794 over four years—an 8% increase that at least moves in the right direction. For anxious parents, the key question is whether staying closer to home (and potentially saving on in-state tuition) offsets the earnings gap compared to Ohio's top programs. The modest debt load is genuinely attractive, especially for a field where many graduates start in lower-paying entry positions.

This program makes sense if cost containment is the priority and your student plans to build their career through experience rather than immediate post-graduation salary. The low debt burden provides flexibility that higher-earning programs with steeper price tags might not offer.