Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions at Cape Fear Community College

Based on comparable allied health programs across North Carolina, Cape Fear's estimated debt load of $14,037 sits comfortably below both state and national medians, creating a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.27—manageable enough that graduates could theoretically pay off their loans in about three months of first-year income. The estimated first-year earnings of $51,990 align exactly with North Carolina's state median for these programs, suggesting Cape Fear delivers typical preparation for the field.

What's harder to assess is trajectory. The four-year earnings figure of $49,111—the only actual reported data point for this program—runs about $3,000 lower than the estimated first-year number, which is unusual for healthcare fields that typically see steady wage growth. This could reflect various factors: graduates moving between jobs, working part-time, or taking breaks from the workforce. It could also simply be noise in a small sample. Meanwhile, top-performing programs in the state like Central Piedmont and Edgecombe produce graduates earning $60,000 or more within a year, showing there's meaningful variation in outcomes across North Carolina's community colleges.

The fundamentals look sound: low debt, reasonable entry wages, and a healthcare credential that provides multiple career pathways. But the lack of program-specific data and that puzzling four-year earnings dip mean you're making this decision with limited visibility into what Cape Fear's graduates specifically achieve.