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2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Ohio

14 Colleges in Ohio
972 Bachelor's Degrees
$31,893 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #27 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 14 schools in Ohio to determine which ones were the best for design & applied arts students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 972 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Design & Applied Arts School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Ohio Your choice of design & applied arts for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality design program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor'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.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for design & applied arts students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Design Rankings Other Ranking Categories

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Ohio list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in Ohio

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts.

10 Top Ohio Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1
167 Annual Graduates
$52,526 Median Starting Salary
$24,320 Median Student Debt

Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts needs to take a look at University of Cincinnati - Main Campus. Located in the large city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at University of Cincinnati - Main Campus make $20,633 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

2
261 Annual Graduates
$36,351 Median Starting Salary
$36,650 Median Student Debt

It is difficult to beat Kent State University at Kent if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large suburb of Kent, Kent State is a public university with a very large student population.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Kent State University at Kent make $4,458 more than the typical design student.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Kent State University at Kent

3

Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts needs to look into Ohio State University - Main Campus. Located in the large city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Ohio State University - Main Campus make $13,283 more than the average design graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Ohio State University - Main Campus

4
132 Annual Graduates
$27,970 Median Starting Salary
$68,481 Median Student Debt

Columbus College of Art and Design is a good option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. CCAD is a fairly small private not-for-profit college located in the city of Columbus.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program state that they receive average early career earnings of $27,970.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Columbus College of Art and Design

5

Located in the town of Oxford, Miami University - Oxford is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Miami University - Oxford get an earnings boost of approximately $15,402 above the average income of design & applied arts majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Miami University - Oxford

6
55 Annual Graduates
$23,358 Median Starting Salary
$60,015 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Cleveland, CIA is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly small student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career income of $23,358.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Cleveland Institute of Art

7
39 Annual Graduates
$35,645 Median Starting Salary
$42,854 Median Student Debt

Located in the fringe town of Bowling Green, BGSU is a public university with a large student population.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University - Main Campus make $3,752 more than the average design grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Bowling Green State University - Main Campus

8

Located in the midsize city of Dayton, UDayton is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Dayton make $11,716 more than the typical design student.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Dayton

9
Cedarville crest
Cedarville University
Cedarville, OH
41 Annual Graduates
$35,768 Median Starting Salary
$36,000 Median Student Debt

Cedarville is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the rural area of Cedarville.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Cedarville University receive an earnings boost of around $3,875 over the typical earnings of design & applied arts majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Cedarville University

10

Located in the city of Akron, University of Akron Main Campus is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from University of Akron Main Campus earn a boost of about $7,963 above the typical income of design & applied arts majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Akron Main Campus

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Michigan 261 703
Illinois 241 768
Indiana 235 289
Wisconsin 213 396

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One of 10 majors within the Visual & Performing Arts area of study, Design & Applied Arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Design Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Fashion Design 177
Graphic Design 169
Commercial & Advertising Art 153
Visual Communications 138
Interior Design 124
Illustration 116
Industrial Design 63
Other Design & Applied Arts 13
Game & Interactive Media Design 10
Commercial Photography 9

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 646
Music 630
Drama & Theater Arts 456
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 291
Dance 102
General Visual & Performing Arts 82
Arts & Media Management 55
Other Visual Art 16
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry 2

Notes and References

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