Communication & Media Studies at Northern Illinois University

Every communication and media studies school has its own distinct culture and strengths. We've pulled together some statistics and other details to help you see how the communications program at Northern Illinois University stacks up to those at other schools.

NIU is located in Dekalb, Illinois and has a total student population of 16,769. Of the 3,080 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University in 2021, 160 of them were communication and media studies majors.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Communication & Media Studies section at the bottom of this page.

NIU Communication & Media Studies Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Communications
• Master’s Degree in Communications

NIU Communication & Media Studies Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks communications programs across the country. The following shows how NIU performed in these rankings.

Note: Rankings don't always give a complete picture of a school's strengths and weaknesses, so it's a good idea to extend your research and also look at other factors when trying to decide if the school is right for you.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The communications major at NIU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Communication & Media Studies. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	222

In 2021, 14 students received their master’s degree in communications from NIU. This makes it the #79 most popular school for communications master’s degree candidates in the country.

Earnings of NIU Communications Graduates

The median salary of communications students who receive their bachelor's degree at NIU is $34,427. This is 6% higher than $32,435, which is the national average for all communications bachelor's degree recipients.

Communications Student Demographics at NIU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the communications majors at Northern Illinois University.

NIU Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 160 communications majors earned their bachelor's degree from NIU. Of these graduates, 58% were men and 42% were women. The typical communications bachelor's degree program is made up of only 36% men. So male students are more repesented at NIU since its program graduates 22% more men than average.

About 59% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in communications at NIU are white. This is above average for this degree on the nationwide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a bachelor's in communications.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	3
Black or African American	25
Hispanic or Latino	25
White	95
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	10

NIU Communication & Media Studies Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 14 communications majors earned their master's degree from NIU. Of these graduates, 21% were men and 79% were women.

Of the students who received a communications master's degree from NIU, 79% were white. This is above average for this degree on the natiowide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a master's in communications.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	2
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	11
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

NIU also has a doctoral program available in communications. In 2021, 0 student graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Journalism

Careers That Communications Grads May Go Into

A degree in communications can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for IL, the home state for Northern Illinois University.

Occupation	Jobs in IL	Average Salary in IL
Public Relations Specialists	7,360	$66,220
Editors	3,830	$62,590
Writers and Authors	1,880	$68,710
Communications Professors	1,810	$78,810
Reporters and Correspondents	1,260	$53,610

References

*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.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Andy McMurray under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.