by our College Data Analytics TeamThe main focus area for this major is Speech Communication. For more details on this concentration, visit its profile page.
Communication & Media Studies is a major offered under the communication and journalism program of study at University of Maryland Global Campus. We’ve pulled together some essential information you should know about the bachelor’s degree program in communications, 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.
With an online bachelor's degree in communication you'll have the opportunity to pursue a multitude of career options. From journalism and social media, to public relations, advertising and mass media, earning your BA in communication will allow you to strategize and communicate your ideas.
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. UMGC was ranked #115 on College Factual's most recent list of the best schools for communications majors. This puts the bachelor's program at the school solidly in the top 15% of all colleges and universities in the country. It is also ranked #6 in Maryland.
Here are some of the other rankings for UMGC.
Out-of-state part-time undergraduates at UMGC paid an average of $499 per credit hour in 2019-2020. The average for in-state students was $300 per credit hour. Information about average full-time undergraduate tuition and fees is shown in the table below.
| In State | Out of State | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $7,200 | $11,976 |
| Fees | $360 | $360 |
Learn more about UMGC tuition and fees.
One factor in determining the overall cost in a degree is to consider how much in student loans you’ll have to take out. Students who received their bachelor’s degree at UMGC in Communications walked away with an average of $24,000 in student debt. That is about the same as the national average of $24,445.
The median early career salary of communications students who receive their bachelor’s degree from UMGC is $49,136 per year. That is 55% higher than the national average of $31,626.
If you’re one of the many students who want the flexibility of distance learning courses, you’ll be happy to hear that UMGC offers online option in its communications bachelor’s degree program. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the UMGC Online Learning page.
Women made up around 67.1% of the communications students who took home a bachelor’s degree in 2019-2020. This is higher than the nationwide number of 64.0%.
Of those graduates who received a bachelor’s degree in communications at UMGC in 2019-2020, 44.1% were racial-ethnic minorities*. This is higher than the nationwide number of 36%.
| Race/Ethnicity | Number of Students |
|---|---|
| Asian | 3 |
| Black or African American | 49 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 11 |
| Native American or Alaska Native | 1 |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0 |
| White | 71 |
| International Students | 3 |
| Other Races/Ethnicities | 14 |
Communication & Media Studies students may decide to major in one of the following focus areas.
| Focus Area | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Speech Communication | 152 |
*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.
