Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Associate degree
27 programs — 0 with federal cost data, the rest suppressed for small class sizes and listed after them, ordered by median debt against median earnings — lowest first.
Data last updated
Field
Delivery
Hide for-profit colleges(2 programs)What 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bismarck State CollegeND · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations/Image ManagementAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Broward CollegeFL · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations/Image ManagementAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Casper CollegeWY · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Chippewa Valley Technical CollegeWI · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationAssociate degree · Hybrid | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Connecticut State Community CollegeCT · PublicRequest information → | AdvertisingAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Cosumnes River CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | AdvertisingAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Del Mar CollegeTX · PublicRequest information → | AdvertisingAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| El Paso Community CollegeTX · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Evangel UniversityMO · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Franklin UniversityOH · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Organizational Communication, GeneralAssociate degree · HybridWhat 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:Public Relations/Image ManagementThe figures on this row describe all of them together. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Gateway Technical CollegeWI · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationAssociate degree · Hybrid | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Long Beach City CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Lynn UniversityFL · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Mesa Community CollegeAZ · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations/Image ManagementAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Mohawk Valley Community CollegeNY · PublicRequest information → | AdvertisingAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Palomar CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | AdvertisingAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Pennsylvania Highlands Community CollegePA · PublicRequest information → | AdvertisingAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Santa Monica CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | AdvertisingAssociate degree · Hybrid | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Sinclair Community CollegeOH · PublicRequest information → | AdvertisingAssociate degree · Hybrid | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| South Plains CollegeTX · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations/Image ManagementAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Southern Adventist UniversityTN · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Public Relations/Image ManagementAssociate degree · On campusOffers: Film Production (BFA) · Animation (BFA) · Media Production (BS) · Photography (BFA) · Advertising (BS) · Public Relations (BS) · Broadcast Journalism (BS)What 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:AdvertisingPublic Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication, OtherThe figures on this row describe all of them together. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash CollegeOH · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations/Image ManagementAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Valencia CollegeFL · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations/Image ManagementAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Vincennes UniversityIN · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations/Image ManagementAssociate degree · Hybrid | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| West Virginia University at ParkersburgWV · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Western Iowa Tech Community CollegeIA · PublicRequest information → | Public Relations/Image ManagementAssociate degree · On campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Youngstown State UniversityOH · PublicRequest information → | AdvertisingAssociate 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 “Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication” covers every related program at that institution rather than one named degree. Full methodology.