Computer and Information Sciences at Columbia State Community College

The trajectory here is puzzling: typical Tennessee community college IT programs suggest first-year earnings around $35,600, but Columbia State's graduates report just $24,681 four years out—a figure that goes backward rather than forward. This raises questions about whether graduates are finding work in their field or whether the limited sample size (too small for DOE reporting) reflects an unusually challenging cohort that doesn't represent typical outcomes.

Peer programs across Tennessee tell a more promising story. Nashville State and Chattanooga State graduates earn $42,000-plus in their first year, while even the median two-year IT program in the state sits at $35,600—all substantially higher than Columbia State's four-year-out figure. With estimated debt of $13,200, the financial framework looks manageable if graduates can reach those typical first-year benchmarks, giving a debt-to-earnings ratio under 0.4.

The reality is that you're looking at extremely limited information here—so little that federal privacy rules suppress the actual data. If your student is considering this path, insist on specific placement outcomes from the school itself: where recent graduates actually work, what roles they hold, and what they earn. The gap between peer program estimates and the one reported figure we have is too large to ignore without better information about what's really happening with Columbia State's IT graduates.