by our College Data Analytics TeamCommunication & Media Studies is a major offered under the communication and journalism program of study at Western Michigan University. 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, whether or not the degree is offered online, and more.
You can jump to any section of this page using the links below:
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. The bachelor's program at WMU was ranked #360 on College Factual's Best Schools for communications list. It is also ranked #10 in Michigan.
Here are some of the other rankings for WMU.
In 2019-2020, the average part-time undergraduate tuition at WMU was $630 per credit hour for out-of-state students. The average for in-state students was $504 per credit hour. The following table shows the average full-time tuition and fees for undergraduates.
| In State | Out of State | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $12,094 | $15,118 |
| Fees | $923 | $923 |
| Books and Supplies | $987 | $987 |
| On Campus Room and Board | $10,567 | $10,567 |
| On Campus Other Expenses | $2,500 | $2,500 |
Learn more about WMU 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. Communications students who received their bachelor’s degree at WMU took out an average of $27,000 in student loans. That is 10% higher than the national average of $24,445.
The median early career salary of communications students who receive their bachelor’s degree from WMU is $36,793 per year. That is 16% higher than the national average of $31,626.
Online degrees for the WMU communications bachelor’s degree program are not available at this time. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the WMU Online Learning page.
About 72.5% of the students who received their BA in communications in 2019-2020 were women. This is higher than the nationwide number of 64.0%.
Of those graduates who received a bachelor’s degree in communications at WMU in 2019-2020, 41.2% were racial-ethnic minorities*. This is higher than the nationwide number of 36%.
| Race/Ethnicity | Number of Students |
|---|---|
| Asian | 3 |
| Black or African American | 9 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 6 |
| Native American or Alaska Native | 1 |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0 |
| White | 29 |
| International Students | 1 |
| Other Races/Ethnicities | 2 |
Communication & Media Studies students may decide to major in one of the following focus areas.
| Focus Area | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Communications | 1 |
| Speech Communication | 50 |
You may also be interested in one of these majors related to communication and media studies.
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Journalism | 5 |
| Public Relations & Advertising | 104 |
*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.
