by our College Data Analytics TeamPublic Relations & Advertising is a major offered under the communication and journalism program of study at Columbia College Chicago. We’ve pulled together some essential information you should know about the bachelor’s degree program in public relations, including how many students graduate each year, the ethnic diversity of these students, and more.
If there’s something special you’re looking for, you can use one of the links below to find it:
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
BA in Communication - Public Relations
Prepare to develop your skills in building mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their public audiences.
In order to help students and their parents find the best school for them, we have created several different types of college rankings, which are updated yearly. The bachelor's program at Columbia was ranked #159 on College Factual's Best Schools for public relations list. It is also ranked #10 in Illinois.
Here are some of the other rankings for Columbia.
During the 2019-2020 academic year, part-time undergraduate students at Columbia paid an average of $919 per credit hour. No discount was available for in-state students. The average full-time tuition and fees for undergraduates are shown in the table below.
| In State | Out of State | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $26,610 | $26,610 |
| Fees | $1,176 | $1,176 |
| Books and Supplies | $1,600 | $1,600 |
| On Campus Room and Board | $16,456 | $16,456 |
| On Campus Other Expenses | $2,856 | $2,856 |
Learn more about Columbia tuition and fees.
One way to think about how much a school will cost is to look at how much in student loans that you have to take out to get your degree. Students who received their bachelor’s degree at Columbia in Public Relations walked away with an average of $25,000 in student debt. That is 7% higher than the national average of $23,348.
The median early career salary of public relations students who receive their bachelor’s degree from Columbia is $38,289 per year. That is 10% higher than the national average of $34,735.
Online degrees for the Columbia public relations bachelor’s degree program are not available at this time. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the Columbia Online Learning page.
Women made up around 74.3% of the public relations students who took home a bachelor’s degree in 2019-2020. This is higher than the nationwide number of 72.2%.
Of those graduates who received a bachelor’s degree in public relations at Columbia in 2019-2020, 40.0% were racial-ethnic minorities*. This is higher than the nationwide number of 29%.
| Race/Ethnicity | Number of Students |
|---|---|
| Asian | 1 |
| Black or African American | 6 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 5 |
| Native American or Alaska Native | 0 |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0 |
| White | 19 |
| International Students | 2 |
| Other Races/Ethnicities | 2 |
Public Relations & Advertising students may decide to major in one of the following focus areas.
| Focus Area | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Public Relations | 14 |
| Advertising | 21 |
You may also be interested in one of these majors related to public relations and advertising.
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Communication & Media Studies | 8 |
| Journalism | 34 |
| Radio, Television & Digital Communication | 63 |
View All Public Relations & Advertising Related Majors >
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
