2025 Best Communication & Journalism Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region
2Colleges in the Plains States Region
52Doctor's Degrees
If you're seeking a Doctor's Degree in communication & journalism, you will have fewer peers than average since the major degree program is the #22 one in the country in terms of popularity.This may make is a little harder to find a school that is a good fit for you.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Communication & Journalism Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 52 doctor's degrees in communication & journalism during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "Communications & Media Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Communications & Media Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Communications & Media Graduate Certificate Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Communications & Media Graduate Certificate Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Communications & Media Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Communications & Media Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Communication" with relevance 0.9
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in Communication" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.9)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MA in Communication" with relevance 0.9
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MA in Communication" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.9)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Communication - New Media" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in Communication - New Media" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Communication - Public Relations" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in Communication - Public Relations" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MA in Communication - New Media & Marketing" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MA in Communication - New Media & Marketing" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Marketing - New Media & Communications" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Marketing - New Media & Communications" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 9
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 3 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.5
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 3
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 3 offers with relevance >= 1.0
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on communication & journalism students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of communication & journalism students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How much debt communication & journalism students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized communication & journalism related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for communication & journalism students working on their doctor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Communication & Journalism Schools
The communication & journalism school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Communication & Journalism Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "communication-journalism-media"
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.
Effective communicators are always in demand, no matter the industry. The Master's in Communication degree from Southern New Hampshire University is a cutting-edge program designed for forward-thinking professionals.
Explore the digital frontier as it relates to today's communications strategies with this specialized online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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 the rest 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).
by our College Data Analytics Team
