Arizona State College has launched a Bachelor of Arts in Content material Creation by its Walter Cronkite Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, accessible at its downtown Phoenix campus, on-line, and thru ASU Native. Coursework covers video and podcast manufacturing, viewers analytics, model voice, monetization, copyright, plus hands-on work by a Los Angeles Content material Studio and model content material initiatives.
Critics instantly branded it the “influencer diploma,” reviving the talk over whether or not school is well worth the funding in any respect.
Based on reporting from the Related Press, the curriculum overlaps closely with ASU’s present mass communication diploma, with the principle distinction being specialised electives in podcasting, studio manufacturing, and on-camera presence.
ASU isn’t first, both: St. Bonaventure College introduced a content material creation main final winter, and Syracuse, Quinnipiac, and Colorado State provide minors. It’s a part of a broader push by faculties so as to add career-coded majors as extra college students select work over school.
Why It Issues
The creator economic system is actual: Emarketer forecasts U.S. social media creator income will prime $20 billion this 12 months. However most of that cash by no means reaches particular person creators. The majority flows by platforms and model spending, whereas sponsored content material (not platform payouts) drives most creator earnings.
Content material creation generally is a authentic earnings stream, but it surely’s a crowded area that usually pays little within the early years.
Then there’s the value. ASU’s in-state tuition runs about $12,000 per 12 months, with complete value of attendance topping $37,000 earlier than scholarships. Out-of-state college students face tuition over $35,000 and complete prices close to $60,000 per 12 months.
That’s an costly value to pay as the typical value of school retains climbing and the profession path has no outlined profession trajectory or mounted wage.
The Particulars
Some specifics value understanding about this system:
- It’s STEM-OPT eligible, that means worldwide college students on F-1 visas could qualify for a 24-month work extension (in-person solely, not ASU On-line).
- It’s not but permitted for GI Invoice advantages.
- ASU lists profession paths together with model storytelling, podcasting, social media, streaming manufacturing, and digital advertising.
- An accelerated choice lets college students add a grasp’s diploma in about 5 years.
How This Connects
Universities are going through a demographic cliff of a shrinking pool of scholars, and so they’re being pressured to adapt their “merchandise” to the present market.
Proper now, we’re monitoring a number of school closures and mergers in 2026, and even massive faculties like Syracuse have missed enrollment targets.
New majors like this are a recruiting play as a lot as a curriculum determination. The degree-value math nonetheless typically favors school graduates (School Board’s Training Pays 2026 report exhibits a level nonetheless pays off on common) however that common relies upon closely on the way you choose your main and what you pay for it.
What’s Subsequent
Watch whether or not extra universities convert content material creation minors into full majors, whether or not ASU’s program wins GI Invoice approval, and (the true check) what its first graduates truly earn.
Abilities like viewers analytics and model technique switch to advertising and communications jobs, which can matter greater than any viral second.
But it surely’s additionally important to do not forget that the perfect content material creators that exist in the present day by no means had a school diploma in “content material creation”. They discovered and executed the talents themselves with no set curriculum. And it’s 100% doable for any aspiring creator to do this themselves as properly with out paying hundreds for a proper schooling.
Robert Farrington is the founding father of The School Investor and is widely known as one of many nation’s main voices on scholar mortgage debt and saving for school. He holds an MBA from UC San Diego Rady Faculty of Administration and has spent over 15 years researching, writing, and advising on scholar loans, 529 plans, monetary assist applications, and saving and investing for younger professionals.
Robert has been featured within the The New York Occasions, The Wall Road Journal, The Washington Submit, NBC Information, and Forbes, the place he has been an everyday private finance contributor for over a decade. His work combines each skilled experience and private expertise – he efficiently navigated his personal scholar mortgage compensation journey and has helped hundreds of readers do the identical.
He’s dedicated to creating the intersection of private finance and schooling clear and accessible. You’ll be able to be taught extra about Robert on the About Web page or on his private website RobertFarrington.com.
