Construction Engineering Technologies at CUNY New York City College of Technology

For an associate's degree in Construction Engineering Technologies, comparable programs nationally suggest first-year earnings around $56,000 against estimated debt of $12,563—a ratio that works out to less than three months of gross pay. That's manageable on paper, particularly for students entering the trades where New York's higher cost of living is offset by stronger wages and steady demand for skilled construction professionals.

The catch here is that New York programs show surprising variability. While the national median sits at $56,000, Hudson Valley Community College—the only in-state program with reportable data—shows graduates earning just $44,162. That's a meaningful gap that could reflect differences in curriculum focus, industry connections, or where graduates end up working. City College of Technology's location in Brooklyn could be an advantage, given proximity to major construction projects and developers, but without program-specific outcomes, it's impossible to confirm whether their graduates match national peers or follow the lower state pattern.

The program serves a heavily Pell-eligible population (55%) at an open-access institution, which matters because these students often can't afford to gamble on uncertain outcomes. If City Tech's graduates perform closer to Hudson Valley's numbers, that debt becomes significantly less comfortable. Push the school for graduate employment data, starting salaries from recent classes, and which companies recruit from the program before committing.