Design and Digital Art Bachelor’s degree
18 programs — 9 with federal cost data, the rest suppressed for small class sizes and listed after them, led by institutions where this is the main program rather than one of many. Federal figures cover the wider program family, so a row may share its numbers with related degrees.
Data last updated
Specific program
Schools file the same degree under different federal codes — Berklee’s music production sits under “Music, Other”, Academy of Art’s under “Recording Arts”. These groups gather every code a program is actually filed under.
Field
Delivery
Hide for-profit collegesWhat our data shows about for-profit collegesAcross the creative fields on this site, students at private for-profit institutions borrow 27% more than students at public ones ($29,332 against $23,033) and earn 15% less four years after completing ($38,361 against $45,110).The combined effect is severe. Median debt at a for-profit equals 70% of a graduate’s annual earnings, against 47% at a public institution. And 10% of for-profit programs leave graduates owing more than they earn in a year — against 1% of public ones. Ten times the rate.This is a pattern across 212 for-profit programs, not a handful of outliers, and it holds in every creative field we cover. It does not mean no for-profit program is worth taking: some appear high in our best-value rankings, and this filter hides those too. It means the odds are materially worse, and the burden of proof sits with the school.Figures are medians computed from the College Scorecard and IPEDS data behind every table on this site.
| Institution | Programcredential and delivery | at completion | 4 yrs after | Median federal loan debt at completion, divided by median earnings four years later. It answers a single question: how much of one year’s income do you owe on the day you finish?Below 50% is generally considered manageable. Above 100% means graduates owe more than they earn in a year, and repayment on a standard ten-year plan starts to consume a serious share of income.Debt covers federal loans only, so real ratios are often worse. Both figures are medians — half of graduates fall on the wrong side of each. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis ObispoCA · PublicRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | $17,961 | $79,432 | 23% |
| University of Maryland Global CampusMD · PublicRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · Hybrid | $22,971 | $58,759 | 39% |
| University of Northern IowaIA · PublicRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | $19,184 | $44,066 | 44% |
| Carroll UniversityWI · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | $27,000 | $47,327 | 57% |
| Illinois State UniversityIL · PublicRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | — | $55,723 | — |
| Roger Williams UniversityRI · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | — | $61,887 | — |
| University of CharlestonWV · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | — | $47,037 | — |
| Rochester Institute of TechnologyNY · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Prepress/Desktop Publishing and Digital Imaging DesignBachelor’s degree · On campusWhat this figure actually coversThe federal government reports debt and earnings for a whole program family rather than one degree. At this institution that family also includes:Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics, and Special EffectsThe figures on this row describe all of them together. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. | $27,000 | $55,122 | 49% |
| Ferris State UniversityMI · PublicRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campusWhat this figure actually coversThe federal government reports debt and earnings for a whole program family rather than one degree. At this institution that family also includes:Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics, and Special EffectsPrinting ManagementThe figures on this row describe all of them together. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. | $27,000 | $44,116 | 61% |
| Appalachian State UniversityNC · PublicRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Bluefield UniversityVA · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| California State University-Los AngelesCA · PublicRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Chowan UniversityNC · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Holy Family UniversityPA · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Lewis-Clark State CollegeID · PublicRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Southern Nazarene UniversityOK · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Stephens CollegeMO · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| The University of FindlayOH · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Graphic Communications, GeneralBachelor’s degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
Source: College Scorecard, Field of Study (retrieved September 2026)
How we are paid: StudyCreative earns revenue when readers ask to be connected with a school. No school pays to appear in these figures, to change them, or to be left out of them. Full disclosure.
One thing these figures cannot tell you
Earnings and debt are reported by the federal government at a four-digit program level, so a figure shown against “Design and Digital Art” covers every related program at that institution rather than one named degree. Full methodology.