$40,300
Grouped estimate · Medium evidence.
Same subject at 12 matched peer institutions · master's
Historical archive, not a current salary estimate.
Communications & media
Communication and Media Studies
Saginaw Valley State University · University Center, MI
Medium evidenceMatched peers12 institutions · same subjectSee the evidence
The degree in numbers
Cost & earnings.
Earnings context
One career stage.
A clearer comparison.
USD · Master's · 2 years after completion
Same source release. National references exclude this degree.
Behind the number
Your comparison group.
Same subject at 12 matched peer institutions · master's
Grouped estimate. Middle half of comparison values: $38,289–$44,984.
Historical earnings archive. College Scorecard legacy FOS archive (file dated 2022-01-19; cohorts vary). Do not interpret this as today's graduate salary. Further study and career changes are not modelled by this early-career figure.
| Institution & subject | Reported earnings |
|---|---|
| University of Central MissouriCommunication and Media Studies | $39,909 |
| Northern Illinois UniversityCommunication and Media Studies | $25,194 |
| University of South AlabamaCommunication and Media Studies | $38,289 |
| Ball State UniversityCommunication and Media Studies | $40,467 |
| Wayne State UniversityCommunication and Media Studies | $51,482 |
| Eastern Michigan UniversityCommunication and Media Studies | $42,682 |
| University of LouisvilleCommunication and Media Studies | $44,747 |
| Shippensburg University of PennsylvaniaCommunication and Media Studies | $45,696 |
| Pittsburg State UniversityCommunication and Media Studies | $33,993 |
| Washington State UniversityCommunication and Media Studies | $49,840 |
| Southern Illinois University-CarbondaleCommunication and Media Studies | $40,132 |
| University of Alabama at BirminghamCommunication and Media Studies | $38,289 |
How matching & uncertainty work
We first look for the same subject code (or exact subject name), qualification, country, currency, source release and earnings horizon. Peer institutions are matched using admissions selectivity, completion rates, undergraduate size and institution type, with a small preference for the same region. These are institutional proxies, not a ranking of programme quality.
If subject-matched peers are sparse, we try related subjects at closely matched universities, related degrees at this university, then an explicitly labelled national reference. We never multiply a salary by a university prestige score.
Peer and national estimates give each reporting institution one vote, after taking the median of its related programmes. Shared branch-campus outcomes count once. The middle-half range describes variation between reporting institutions. It is not an individual salary range or a statistical confidence interval.
Evidence labels describe match quality and coverage, not validated prediction accuracy. Admissions and size are undergraduate institutional measures, so graduate-degree comparisons are especially approximate.
Historical cohort outcomes are not promised salaries or a causal effect of attending this programme. College Scorecard earnings cover eligible federal-aid recipients, not every graduate or international student. Source definitions ↗