Communications & media

Communication and Media Studies

The University of Texas at Austin · Austin, TX

Medium evidenceMatched peers12 institutions · same subjectSee the evidence

The degree in numbers

Cost & earnings.

Annual tuition$42,778Institution-level tuition; programme fees may differ · before aid
Reported median debt$20,070Reported for this university and degree
Annual credentials awarded249Average of available recent award years; not the earnings sample size.

Earnings context

One career stage.
A clearer comparison.

USD · Bachelor's · 2 years after completion
Same source release. National references exclude this degree.

Selected degree estimate$38,124
Same subject · national$33,535
Communications & media · national$32,529

Behind the number

Your comparison group.

Medium evidence

Same subject at 12 matched peer institutions · bachelor's

Grouped estimate. Middle half of comparison values: $35,908–$40,500.

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.

Bachelor's outcomes · 2 years after completion
Institution & subjectReported earnings
University of California-San DiegoCommunication and Media Studies$39,369
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis ObispoCommunication and Media Studies$33,459
University of California-Santa BarbaraCommunication and Media Studies$41,889
Florida State UniversityCommunication and Media Studies$36,291
University of GeorgiaCommunication and Media Studies$36,992
San Diego State UniversityCommunication and Media Studies$33,535
North Carolina State University at RaleighCommunication and Media Studies$35,914
University of California-DavisCommunication and Media Studies$40,874
University of Wisconsin-MadisonCommunication and Media Studies$35,891
University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignCommunication and Media Studies$40,375
University of Washington-Seattle CampusCommunication and Media Studies$39,257
University of Maryland-College ParkCommunication and Media Studies$46,947
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 ↗