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Rankings / By State

Best Communications Colleges in Iowa

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 11 schools · Agent Insights
11
Schools Analyzed
$58,820
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
65%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$22,881
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 11 institutions on graduation rates, graduate earnings, debt burdens, and social mobility data from Opportunity Insights. Every data point comes from federal sources. No surveys, no opinions.

Social mobility carries the heaviest weight in our algorithm. We use Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card — built on 30 million anonymized tax records — to measure whether a college changes a family's economic trajectory across generations. Schools that take low-income students and launch them into higher earnings rank higher than schools that admit wealthy students and take credit for their success.

The transparency penalty matters here. Schools that don't report their data get scored lower than schools that do. If an institution won't show you its numbers, we think you should know that before you write them a tuition check.

Quick Numbers

Schools ranked 11
Avg. earnings at 10yr $58,820
Avg. graduation rate 65%
Avg. net price $22,881
Avg. median debt $24,865

How We Ranked

Communications programs in Iowa ranked by outcomes and program concentration

Read our full methodology →

Earnings vs. Cost

Each dot is a ranked school. Up = higher earnings. Right = higher cost. Top-left is the best value.

$15K$68K$120K$0$50KNET PRICEUniversity ofUniversity ofDrake UniversitySimpson CollegeCoe College

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

University of Iowa74%University of Northern I…68%Drake University76%Simpson College64%Coe College62%Central College68%Loras College69%Wartburg College66%Clarke University56%Iowa State University75%University of Dubuque41%

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Full Rankings

#1

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA · 22,264 students · Public

84% accepted 74% graduate $64,762 earnings
University's full profile
#2

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, IA · 7,529 students · Public

93% accepted 68% graduate $55,177 earnings
University's full profile
#3

Drake University

Des Moines, IA · 2,543 students · Private nonprofit

64% accepted 76% graduate $71,901 earnings
Drake's full profile
#4

Simpson College

Indianola, IA · 1,227 students · Private nonprofit

86% accepted 64% graduate $59,274 earnings
Simpson's full profile
#5

Coe College

Cedar Rapids, IA · 1,164 students · Private nonprofit

64% accepted 62% graduate $57,125 earnings
Coe's full profile
#6

Central College

Pella, IA · 1,070 students · Private nonprofit

86% accepted 68% graduate $54,317 earnings
Central's full profile
#7

Loras College

Dubuque, IA · 1,083 students · Private nonprofit

100% accepted 69% graduate $58,289 earnings
Loras's full profile
#8

Wartburg College

Waverly, IA · 1,452 students · Private nonprofit

76% accepted 66% graduate $56,201 earnings
Wartburg's full profile
#9

Clarke University

Dubuque, IA · 742 students · Private nonprofit

72% accepted 56% graduate $55,396 earnings
Clarke's full profile
#10

Iowa State University

Ames, IA · 25,367 students · Public

89% accepted 75% graduate $63,386 earnings
Iowa's full profile
#11

University of Dubuque

Dubuque, IA · 1,440 students · Private nonprofit

89% accepted 41% graduate $51,190 earnings
University's full profile

Sources & Citations

[1]

U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Data. Federal Student Aid, National Center for Education Statistics.

[2]

National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

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David Krug

Co-Founder, CollegeRanker

David Krug is the co-founder of CollegeRanker and a data systems architect focused on making institutional research accessible to families. He builds the data pipelines and ranking algorithms that power CollegeRanker, drawing from federal datasets and Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights research to measure what traditional rankings ignore: whether a college actually changes a family's economic trajectory.