2022 Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies (Income $30-$48k) in the Plains States Region

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 Communications Schools for an Associate in the Plains States Region For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 68,079 communication and media studies students received their degree, making the major the 9th most popular in the country. In 2017-2018, communication and media studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $32,728 and had an average of $24,931 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Plains States region, there were 3,723 communication and media studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,583 and $25,858 respectively. At the associate degree level specifically, there were 27 communication and media studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,069 and $19,434 respectively.

The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great communication and media studies programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the communication and media studies program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Communication & Media Studies Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Plains States Region For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Plains States Region For Those Making $30-$48k

The colleges and universities below are the best for plains states region associate degree communications students whose families make $30-$48k.

Top 1 Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies (Income $30-$48k) in the Plains States Region

#1

Waldorf University

Forest City, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$16,991 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Waldorf University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Plains States Region For Those Making $30-$48k list. Forest City, Iowa is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private for-profit school handed out associates’s communications degrees to 4 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our plains states region associate degree communications students whose families make $30-$48k list, Waldorf has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Waldorf University is $16,991 for plains states region associate degree communications students whose families make $30-$48k.

Read more about Communication & Media Studies at Waldorf University

• Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies (Income $30-$48k)

Notes and References

References

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to UNU-WIDER from Helsinki, Finland.

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