Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Communication and Media Studies

Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.

50

Schools Ranked

$33,406

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

69,121

Graduates

How we calculate value: Payback = (4 years of net price) / (major earnings - $35k baseline). A 2-year payback means you recoup your investment in 2 years through higher earnings vs. not attending college.

#	School	Net Price/yr	Major Earnings	Payback
1	McDaniel College Westminster, MD · Private	$729	$43,240	<1 yr
2	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$48,041	1.8 yrs
3	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$55,813	1.9 yrs
4	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private	$12,020	$54,581	2.5 yrs
5	The University of Texas Permian Basin Odessa, TX · Public	$10,549	$52,107	2.5 yrs
6	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$47,473	3.4 yrs
7	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$47,473	4.3 yrs
8	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN · Private	$7,694	$41,937	4.4 yrs
9	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private	$18,389	$49,868	4.9 yrs
10	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$46,478	5.6 yrs
11	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA · Private	$17,098	$46,940	5.7 yrs
12	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$41,592	5.7 yrs
13	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$46,947	5.8 yrs
14	Boston University Boston, MA · Private	$18,458	$47,620	5.9 yrs
15	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$41,592	6.1 yrs
16	Metropolitan State University Saint Paul, MN · Public	$16,515	$45,500	6.3 yrs
17	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$41,592	6.4 yrs
18	CUNY City College New York, NY · Public	$7,521	$39,663	6.5 yrs
19	Creighton University Omaha, NE · Private	$27,314	$50,856	6.9 yrs
20	San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA · Public	$16,065	$43,937	7.2 yrs
21	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	$8,147	$39,257	7.7 yrs
22	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$39,257	7.9 yrs
23	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$41,844	8 yrs
24	University of New Hampshire at Manchester Manchester, NH · Public	$12,787	$41,317	8.1 yrs
25	Hamilton College Clinton, NY · Private	$13,321	$41,565	8.1 yrs
26	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$41,889	8.5 yrs
27	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$40,375	8.6 yrs
28	Fairfield University Fairfield, CT · Private	$25,929	$46,673	8.9 yrs
29	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	$9,439	$39,257	8.9 yrs
30	California State University-East Bay Hayward, CA · Public	$15,615	$42,012	8.9 yrs
31	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$41,592	9.2 yrs
32	Saint Anselm College Manchester, NH · Private	$22,890	$44,542	9.6 yrs
33	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$40,874	9.7 yrs
34	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$40,447	9.7 yrs
35	Randolph-Macon College Ashland, VA · Private	$22,621	$44,276	9.8 yrs
36	University of Minnesota-Crookston Crookston, MN · Public	$9,084	$38,721	9.8 yrs
37	American University Washington, DC · Private	$27,374	$45,980	10 yrs
38	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private	$22,826	$44,046	10.1 yrs
39	Saint Mary's College Notre Dame, IN · Private	$16,625	$41,342	10.5 yrs
40	Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI · Public	$15,720	$41,007	10.5 yrs
41	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus Denver, CO · Public	$15,406	$40,821	10.6 yrs
42	Bryant University Smithfield, RI · Private	$37,946	$49,019	10.8 yrs
43	Alverno College Milwaukee, WI · Private	$18,834	$41,937	10.9 yrs
44	San Jose State University San Jose, CA · Public	$17,338	$41,286	11 yrs
45	DePauw University Greencastle, IN · Private	$22,316	$43,054	11.1 yrs
46	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$41,618	11.1 yrs
47	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	$15,248	$40,488	11.1 yrs
48	Lakeland University Plymouth, WI · Private	$21,266	$42,682	11.1 yrs
49	Villanova University Villanova, PA · Private	$28,580	$45,109	11.3 yrs
50	University of Iowa Iowa City, IA · Public	$18,026	$41,126	11.8 yrs

Top Earners in Communication and Media Studies

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

Explore best value colleges across all majors and categories.

Payback uses earnings by major from the College Scorecard's field-of-study file, last updated June 2026, against net price from the June 2026 release. Scorecard publishes the two separately, so they are different vintages.