Electrical/Electronics Maintenance and Repair Technology at CUNY Queensborough Community College

The estimated $12,000 debt for this program is unusually low for a technical degree, especially in New York City where living costs run high. Based on national peers, electrical/electronics programs typically produce first-year earnings around $45,000, which would put graduates on reasonable financial footing. What's interesting here is how this compares to other New York programs—similar programs across the state typically see earnings in the mid-to-high $30,000s, suggesting Queensborough's location in the New York metro area could provide a meaningful wage advantage.

The trade-off to consider: these are estimates drawn from peer programs nationally, not Queensborough's actual graduate outcomes. The small sample size that led to suppression might indicate limited enrollment or that graduates are harder to track through standard employment channels—perhaps they're working independently or in cash-based trades where earnings reporting is incomplete. With 45% of students receiving Pell grants, many families here are looking at this program as an economic ladder, but they're doing so without the usual concrete data on how previous graduates actually fared.

The debt-to-earnings picture looks manageable on paper—a 0.26 ratio is well below concerning thresholds. But your decision hinges on whether you trust that the earnings estimates from other states and programs will hold true for graduates entering New York's electrical trades market. If the metro location delivers higher wages as suggested, this could be solid value. If not, graduates might face the lower state median of $38,000, which changes the calculation.