Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs, Other

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

Schools Ranked

$34,094

Avg. Earnings

5 yrs

Best Payback

1,659

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	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	$11,794	$44,384	5 yrs
2	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$43,798	5.9 yrs
3	California Lutheran University Thousand Oaks, CA · Private	$24,375	$46,478	8.5 yrs
4	Buena Vista University Storm Lake, IA · Private	$15,581	$39,369	14.3 yrs
5	Marquette University Milwaukee, WI · Private	$25,377	$41,789	15 yrs
6	Drexel University Philadelphia, PA · Private	$33,921	$41,565	20.7 yrs
7	Farmingdale State College Farmingdale, NY · Public	$10,914	$36,560	28 yrs
8	West Virginia University Morgantown, WV · Public	$13,077	$36,848	28.3 yrs
9	Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ · Private	$30,127	$38,721	32.4 yrs
10	DeSales University Center Valley, PA · Private	$28,434	$38,289	34.6 yrs
11	Berry College Mount Berry, GA · Private	$19,493	$35,810	96.3 yrs
12	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Mont Alto Mont Alto, PA · Public	$16,766	$35,594	112.9 yrs
13	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State York York, PA · Public	$16,993	$35,594	114.4 yrs
14	Pennsylvania State University-World Campus University Park, PA · Public	$19,223	$35,594	129.4 yrs
15	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Berks Reading, PA · Public	$22,967	$35,594	154.7 yrs
16	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$35,594	182.7 yrs
17	Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI · Public	$15,277	$35,274	223 yrs
18	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$35,060	884.9 yrs
19	SUNY Buffalo State University Buffalo, NY · Public	$17,154	$31,792	N/A
20	Malone University Canton, OH · Private	$17,944	$24,035	N/A
21	Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, TN · Public	$17,588	$26,817	N/A
22	SUNY Polytechnic Institute Utica, NY · Public	$15,239	$23,649	N/A
23	Immaculata University Immaculata, PA · Private	$27,369	$33,987	N/A
24	University of Minnesota-Duluth Duluth, MN · Public	$13,364	$33,138	N/A
25	Wilkes University Wilkes-Barre, PA · Private	$28,221	$32,391	N/A
26	Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bowling Green, OH · Public	$18,606	$29,105	N/A
27	Middle Georgia State University Macon, GA · Public	$11,530	$26,353	N/A
28	Flagler College Saint Augustine, FL · Private	$24,027	$25,629	N/A
29	Quincy University Quincy, IL · Private	$14,525	$23,538	N/A
30	Keystone College La Plume, PA · Private	$26,212	$20,482	N/A

Top Earners in Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs, Other

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.