2022 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies in Iowa

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Communications Schools for a Master’s in Iowa” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Communication & Media Studies is one of the most popular majors in the nation, ranking 9th of all the majors we analyze. In 2019-2020, 68,079 degrees were awarded to students with this major. 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 Iowa, there were 532 communication and media studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $36,980 and $27,392 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 39 communication and media studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $52,298 and $45,299 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Communications Schools for a Master’s in Iowa” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in communication and media studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent communication and media studies 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 communication and media studies program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 a Master’s in Iowa” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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 Communications Schools for a Master’s in Iowa

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Communications Schools for a Master’s in Iowa.

Top 3 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies in Iowa

#1

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$27,613 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Iowa. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Communications Schools for a Master’s in Iowa. This large school is located in Iowa City, Iowa, and it awarded 5 masters’s communications degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Communication & Media Studies Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at Iowa are $27,613, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Read more about Communication & Media Studies at University of Iowa

#2

Drake University

Des Moines, Iowa

#2 in overall quality

$11,932 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$76,460 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Drake University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Communications Schools for a Master’s in Iowa list. Drake University is a small school located in Des Moines, Iowa that handed out 20 masters’s communications degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our iowa master’s degree communications students list, Drake has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Communication & Media Studies Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at Drake University are $11,932, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Full Drake Communication & Media Studies Report

#3

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

#3 in overall quality

$22,648 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Communications Schools for a Master’s in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Northern Iowa landed the #3 spot on the list. University of Northern Iowa is a public institution located in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 10 masters’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our iowa master’s degree communications students list, UNI has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Communication & Media Studies Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at University of Northern Iowa are $22,648.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at University of Northern Iowa

• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies in the Plains States Region
• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies

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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