Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Graphic Communications

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

50

Schools Ranked

$29,930

Avg. Earnings

2.6 yrs

Best Payback

2,906

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	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private	$12,676	$54,713	2.6 yrs
2	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$52,385	4 yrs
3	Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY · Private	$31,935	$54,252	6.6 yrs
4	Baker College Owosso, MI · Private	$12,281	$41,565	7.5 yrs
5	University of Wisconsin-Stout Menomonie, WI · Public	$15,247	$42,123	8.6 yrs
6	University of Minnesota-Duluth Duluth, MN · Public	$13,364	$40,896	9.1 yrs
7	Ringling College of Art and Design Sarasota, FL · Private	$51,025	$48,725	14.9 yrs
8	Carroll University Waukesha, WI · Private	$22,237	$40,768	15.4 yrs
9	New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ · Public	$18,451	$39,369	16.9 yrs
10	Illinois State University Normal, IL · Public	$19,293	$39,369	17.7 yrs
11	Roger Williams University Bristol, RI · Private	$33,796	$39,369	30.9 yrs
12	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$36,368	45.5 yrs
13	Art Center College of Design Pasadena, CA · Private	$42,992	$38,289	52.3 yrs
14	Ferris State University Big Rapids, MI · Public	$13,230	$35,823	64.3 yrs
15	Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA · Private	$37,292	$30,409	N/A
16	Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bowling Green, OH · Public	$18,606	$30,228	N/A
17	California Baptist University Riverside, CA · Private	$25,553	$34,526	N/A
18	Western Illinois University Macomb, IL · Public	$15,794	$21,781	N/A
19	University of Silicon Valley San Jose, CA · For-Profit	$26,985	$30,984	N/A
20	University of Idaho Moscow, ID · Public	$13,998	$29,685	N/A
21	George Mason University Fairfax, VA · Public	$19,066	$33,993	N/A
22	DigiPen Institute of Technology Redmond, WA · For-Profit	$40,635	$25,774	N/A
23	DePaul University Chicago, IL · Private	$28,577	$21,508	N/A
24	SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill Cobleskill, NY · Public	$18,262	$20,140	N/A
25	University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA · Public	$15,287	$30,771	N/A
26	Columbia College Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$26,626	$33,993	N/A
27	Minneapolis College of Art and Design Minneapolis, MN · Private	$25,625	$18,771	N/A
28	Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah, GA · Private	$44,631	$22,778	N/A
29	Sam Houston State University Huntsville, TX · Public	$14,927	$19,227	N/A
30	Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI · Public	$14,547	$25,194	N/A
31	Fairmont State University Fairmont, WV · Public	$12,104	$20,140	N/A
32	East Tennessee State University Johnson City, TN · Public	$15,113	$21,135	N/A
33	Webster University Saint Louis, MO · Private	$22,524	$22,806	N/A
34	Pittsburg State University Pittsburg, KS · Public	$14,800	$31,907	N/A
35	Laguna College of Art and Design Laguna Beach, CA · Private	$39,068	$21,234	N/A
36	Bradley University Peoria, IL · Private	$23,286	$33,382	N/A
37	University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, HI · Public	$15,183	$23,262	N/A
38	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred Alfred, NY · Public	$18,893	$23,456	N/A
39	Villa Maria College Buffalo, NY · Private	$14,163	$22,667	N/A
40	Pratt Institute-Main Brooklyn, NY · Private	$49,338	$24,035	N/A
41	Huntington University Huntington, IN · Private	$18,987	$20,140	N/A
42	College for Creative Studies Detroit, MI · Private	$32,671	$23,207	N/A
43	New Mexico State University-Main Campus Las Cruces, NM · Public	$11,116	$23,262	N/A
44	Columbus College of Art & Design Columbus, OH · Private	$26,377	$20,140	N/A
45	California College of the Arts San Francisco, CA · Private	$31,474	$30,409	N/A
46	Kansas City Art Institute Kansas City, MO · Private	$27,607	$20,140	N/A
47	School of Visual Arts New York, NY · For-Profit	$47,965	$13,132	N/A
48	Regent University Virginia Beach, VA · Private	$24,954	$28,960	N/A
49	University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Fort Smith, AR · Public	$10,326	$24,421	N/A
50	SUNY College of Technology at Canton Canton, NY · Public	$16,849	$22,806	N/A

Top Earners in Graphic Communications

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.