Design and Applied Arts at University of Massachusetts-Lowell

UMass Lowell's Design and Applied Arts program punches above its weight—graduates here earn $41,020 in their first year, outperforming 80% of Massachusetts design programs and ranking in the 82nd percentile nationally. That's $10,000 more than the typical Massachusetts design graduate and nearly $8,000 above the national median. While the program doesn't match Boston's elite design schools (Northeastern and BU graduates start near $50,000), it costs substantially less to attend a public university, and the $27,000 in typical debt sits right at both state and national medians.

The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.66 means graduates owe about eight months of their first-year salary—manageable territory for an art and design field where these ratios often stretch past 1.0. At an 85% admission rate, UMass Lowell offers accessible entry to a program delivering above-average outcomes.

The significant caveat: this data comes from fewer than 30 graduates, so individual results could vary more widely than at larger programs. Still, for Massachusetts families weighing design schools, this represents a solid public option that appears to deliver professional outcomes without the private school price tag—a genuine value play in a field where many programs leave graduates struggling with debt.