Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services at Central Georgia Technical College

The estimated $16,757 in debt for this associate's program—based on similar technical college programs in Georgia—lands well below both the state median ($24,849) and national benchmark ($19,825) for allied health programs. With first-year earnings from comparable Georgia programs around $40,110, that puts the debt-to-earnings ratio at a manageable 0.42, meaning graduates would owe roughly five months of their annual salary.

What's harder to gauge is where Central Georgia Technical College specifically fits within Georgia's wide range of outcomes. Top-performing programs like Dalton State College produce graduates earning nearly $59,000, while others hover closer to $40,000. Without actual outcome data for this program, parents can't know whether their child would land closer to Athens Technical's $46,000 or at the state median. That $6,000-$18,000 difference significantly changes how quickly debt becomes manageable.

The lower estimated debt offers some cushion for uncertainty. Even if earnings come in on the lower end of the state range, the debt load shouldn't become unmanageable. For families where cost is the primary concern and a 30% Pell grant rate suggests affordability matters here, this program's lighter debt burden provides more room for individual career trajectory to determine value than a $25,000 loan would allow.