Is a Design and Applied Arts degree worth it?
Across 266 schools, graduates of Design and Applied Arts earn a median $51,748 five years out on $26,000 of debt — most often working as Graphic Designers. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$51,748
Median debt
$26,000
Years to pay off
4.8
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
52%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+2.9%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
5.3%
$54,294 vs $51,393
Net price
$20,594/yr
Debt-test failures
14.8%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$10,301
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Design and Applied Arts in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.