Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technologies at Columbia-Greene Community College

Columbia-Greene's automotive program produces graduates earning $46,236 in their first year—notably above both the state and national medians for this field. That's $3,190 more than the typical New York automotive program and positions graduates in the 67th percentile nationally. The program sits just below SUNY Morrisville's top-earning automotive graduates but ahead of most community college alternatives in the state, suggesting Columbia-Greene is doing something right in preparing technicians for today's increasingly complex vehicles.

The debt picture looks manageable, though it requires a caveat: the $11,063 figure is estimated from comparable New York community college programs since this specific program's graduate cohort was too small for the DOE to publish actual debt data. That estimate suggests a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.24—meaning roughly three months of first-year salary to clear the debt. Most automotive programs nationwide carry similar or higher debt loads (the national median is $12,000), so this aligns with field norms.

For parents weighing this investment, the fundamentals look solid: above-average earnings in a field with clear career pathways, estimated debt that shouldn't be crushing, and proximity to the Capital Region's automotive market. The lack of reported debt data means some uncertainty remains about what your specific graduate might borrow, but the earnings performance suggests graduates are finding decent-paying positions relatively quickly.