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2024 Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington

5 Ranked Colleges
216 Degrees Awarded
$19,100 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Journalism is the 69th most popular major in the country with 13,552 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, journalism graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $32,953 and had an average of $23,734 in loans still to pay off.

Across Washington, there were 216 journalism graduates with average earnings and debt of $32,570 and $22,475 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington” ranking analyzed 5 colleges that offered a degree in journalism. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent journalism programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the journalism program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington.

Top 5 Best Value Colleges for Journalism in Washington

1
WWU crest
Western Washington University
Bellingham, Washington

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Western Washington University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington. Bellingham, Washington is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s journalism degrees to 59 students in 2020-2021.

WWU also made our “Best Journalism Schools in Washington” list, coming in at #3. It costs about $17,070 for washington journalism students per year to attend WWU.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Journalism at Western Washington University

2
Wazzu crest
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Washington State University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington. This large school is located in Pullman, Washington, and it awarded 70 ’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.

Wazzu not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best Journalism Schools in Washington” list. The estimated yearly cost for Washington State University is $15,300 for washington journalism students.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Washington State University Journalism Report

3

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Washington - Seattle Campus landed the #3 spot on the list. Located in Seattle, Washington, this large public school handed out 39 degrees to qualified ’s journalism students in 2020-2021.

UW Seattle also made our “Best Journalism Schools in Washington” list, coming in at #2. The yearly cost to attend UW Seattle is $12,017 for Washington Journalism students.

With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.1% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read more about Journalism at UW Seattle

4
CWU crest
Central Washington University
Ellensburg, Washington

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Central Washington University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington. Located in Ellensburg, Washington, this fairly large public school awarded 9 diplomas to qualified ’s journalism students in 2020-2021.

CWU also took the #5 spot in our “Best Journalism Schools in Washington” ranking. The yearly cost to attend CWU is $16,514 for washington journalism students.

Full Central Washington University Journalism Report

5
Gonzaga crest
Gonzaga University
Spokane, Washington

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Gonzaga University. It ranked #5 on our 2024 Best Value Journalism Schools in Washington list. This medium-sized school is located in Spokane, Washington, and it awarded 24 ’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.

Gonzaga did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Journalism Schools in Washington” list. The estimated yearly cost for Gonzaga University is $34,451 for Washington Journalism students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 92%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full Gonzaga Journalism Report

Notes and References

References

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

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